III!!! 

••=  B^UHB 


'IQUARIAti  GOurC 


"se'  :.,!.-•  'K,  SA\ 

A  n  n  A  f\  O  ^  r*    >  '  •    - 


PARTHENIA: 


THE    LAST    DAYS    OF    PAGANISM. 


ELIZA    BUCKMINSTER    LEE, 

AUTHOR  OP  "NAOMI,"  "LIFE  OP  JEAN  PAUL,''  "LIVES  OP  THE 
BUCKMINSTERS,"  ETC.,  ETC. 


BOSTON: 
TICKNOR    AND     FIELDS. 


M  DCCC  LVIII. 

0 


TO 


THE     KEY.    GEORGE     E.    ELLIS,   D.D., 


TIIK    FOLLOWING   PAGES   ARK   INSCRIBED, 


WITH    KVEUY   SEXTTMKNT  OF   KKSPKCT   AND    GUATITUDK, 


THE    AUTHOR 


M12Q50 


PREFACE. 


THE  period  at  which  the  events  represented  in 
the  following  pages  occurred,  or  (as  in  one  or  more 
exceptions)  are  imagined  to  have  occurred,  was 
the  middle  of  the  fourth  century  ;  —  the  time  when 
Paganism  and  Christianity  were  nearly  balanced  in 
their  earthly  forces ;  when  a  Christianized  Paganism 
and  a  Paganized  Christianity  would  naturally  array 
themselves  against  each  other.  This  was  the  time 
for  a  leading  mind  to  appear  as  the  vindicator  or 
restorer  of  the  old  religion. 

Julian,  the  person  who  enjoyed  this  unenviable 
distinction,  received  his  early  education  under  Chris 
tian  influences.  The  causes  of  his  subsequent  op 
position  to  Christianity  may  be  easily  found  in  the 
character  of  his  cousin,  the  reigning  Emperor, — who 
was  a  fanatical  Christian,  and  also  his  deadliest 
enemy,  —  and  in  the  influences  afterwards  affecting 
him.  One  of  the  tutors  placed  near  him  is  said  to 
have  been  a  concealed  Pagan  ;  others  were  fanatical 


v 


VI  PREFACE. 

or  hypocritical  Christians,  who  exacted  from  the 
high-spirited  and  generous  youth  long  midnight 
prayers  and  severe  penances,  rather  than  the  gen 
uine  virtues  of  Christianity. 

The  movement  which  Julian  represented  is  that 
which  takes  place  when  a  powerful  mind,  but  one 
of  more  warmth  than  penetration,  observes  in  the 
present  and  the  actual  only  its  defects  and  short 
comings.  The  past  in  such  a  mind  arrays  itself  in 
the  attractive  features  of  the  departed,  and  the  ro 
mantic  enthusiast  dreams  only  of  resuscitating  the 
past  without  its  defects, — of  bringing  back  the  good 
only,  divested  of  all  its  attending  evils. 

Paganism,  as  Julian  wished  it  restored,  was  not 
the  old  religion  of  Greece  and  Rome.  \  His  ideal 
faith  was  natural  religion  as  it  was  then  understood, 
with  a  strong  infusion  of  Platonism,  softened  by 
the  tender  precepts  of  Christianity  which  had 
clung  to  his  memory  from  childhood,  and  arrayed 
in  the  gorgeous  and  attractive  forms  of  the  Gre 
cian  mythology. 

It  was  scarcely  necessary  to  depart  at  all  from  the 
truth  of  history  in  order  to  heighten  the  interest  of 
this  contest,  when  Christianity  prevailed,  and,  in  the 
words  of  tradition,  "  The  Galilean  conquered." 

BROOKLINE,  October  1,  1857. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER    I. 

PAGE 
CONSTANTIUS     .  1 


CHAPTER    II. 

THE   PRINCE 13 

CHAPTER    III. 

THE   MAGICIAN 19 

CHAPTER    IV. 

THE   VISION 29 

CHAPTER    V. 

EUSEBIA 34 

CHAPTER    VI. 

GREECE .      .      .      .      .      .      .      .      .    _.      .      49 

CHAPTER    VII. 

ATHENS .  >.....  59 


Vlll  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER    VIII. 

THE   LECTURES 67 

CHAPTER    IX. 

THE   SYMPOSIUM 74 

CHAPTER    X. 

THE   ACROPOLIS 85 

CHAPTER    XI. 

PARTHENIA 95 

CHAPTER    XII. 

THE   FRIENDS 115 

CHAPTER    XIII. 

ADIEU    TO   ATHENS 129 

CHAPTER    XIV. 

THE   COURT    OF   CONSTANTIUS 140 

CHAPTER    XV. 

HELENA .      .'    .      .      161 

CHAPTER    XVI. 

THE   BARBARIANS 168 

CHAPTER    XVII. 

THE   CHRISTIAN   ...  .      .      177 


CONTENTS.  IX 

CHAPTER    XVIII. 

LUTETIA,   OR   PARIS 192 

CHAPTER   XIX. 

THE  CONSPIRACY .     .     ; .      .      199 

CHAPTER   XX. 

ANTIOCH 214 

CHAPTER   XXI. 

PHORION 223 

CHAPTER   XXII. 

JULIAN  AS  EMPEROR 241 

CHAPTER    XXIII. 

THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH 262 

CHAPTER   XXIV. 

THE  EMPEROR  IN   ANTIOCH 274 

CHAPTER    XXV. 

JULIAN   AND   THE   CHRISTIANS 287 

CHAPTER   XXVI. 

DAPHNE 293 

CHAPTER    XXVII. 

THE    HOSPITAL   FOR   STRANGERS .      -      314 


X  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER    XXVIII. 

THE   HERMITS 323 

CHAPTER    XXIX. 

THE  ANGER  OF  THE  EMPEROR 332 

CHAPTER    XXX. 

THEODORUS 341 

CHAPTER    XXXI. 

THE    SUBTERRANEAN    TEMPLE 348 

CHAPTER    XXXII. 

THE   JEW       ..»>-....     * .      366 

CHAPTER    XXXIII. 

THE   CHRISTIANS 370 

CHAPTER    XXXIV. 

JULIAN   DEPARTS   FOR  PERSIA 379 

CHAPTER   XXXV. 
"THE  GALILEAN  HAS  CONQUERED" 399 

CHAPTER    XXXVI. 

THE   CONVENT ,  .      408 


PARTHENIA. 


CHAPTER   I. 

CONSTANTIUS. 

THE  Emp.eror-  Gonstantius  reclined  upon  his  couch 
in  a  lofty  room  of  the  palace  of  Milan.  The  impe 
rial  family,  all  except  his  cousins  Gallus  and  Julian, 
under  the  pretence  of  avoiding  civil  war,  and  with 
the  ready  acquiescence  of  the  Emperor,  had  been 
murdered.  These  murders  were  the  fruit  of  differ 
ent  passions,  combined  with  the  policy  of  the  despot, 
which  taught  him  to  seek  repose  in  crime.  But 
in  preserving  the  two  children,  his  cousins,  Con- 
stantius  listened  to  no  pleadings  of  pity  and  to  no 
whispers  of  conscience ;  he  was  sensible  that  the 
execution  of  the  two  orphans  would  have  been  es 
teemed  by  all  mankind  an  act  of  the  most  deliber 
ate  cruelty.  At  the  time  of  which  we  write,  Gallus 
had  been  three  years  invested  with  the  title  of 
i 


PAETHENIA. 

Caesar,  but  the  writers  most  indulgent  to  his  mem 
ory  are  obliged  to  confess  that  he  was  incapable  of 
reigning,  and  he  soon  afforded  the  Emperor  the 
fairest  pretence  for  exacting  the  forfeit  of  his  life. 

In  the  deep  embrasure  of  a  window  which  com 
manded  a  wide  prospect  over  the  fertile  plain  sur 
rounding  Milan,  and  partially  concealed  by  a  crim 
son  curtain,  sat  a  woman  of  noble  presence  and 
proud,  imperial  beauty.  A  glance  at  her  face 
showed  that  it  was  of  the  purest  Greek  type,  and 
that  the  full  and  noble  form  possessed  the  grace 
which  belongs  to  the  highest  birth. 

The  plain  upon  which  she  looked  was  not  in  the 
fourth  century,  as  now,  covered  and  glittering  with 
towns  and  villages,  but  it  was  the  most  fertile  coun 
try  imaginable.  Innumerable  flocks,  whose  wool 
was  of  the  finest  quality,  fed  upon  these  plains,  and 
the  wine  was  so  abundant  that  it  was  drunk  like 
water. 

Although  the  apartment  was  in  some  respects 
rude,  being  one  in  the  temporary  residence  only  of 
the  court,  the  dress  and  appointments  of  Constan- 
tius  showed  the  extreme  of  Oriental  luxury.  For 
merly,  the  only  distinction  of  the  Emperor  had  been 
the  purple  robe,  but  now,  since  the  introduction  of 
Oriental  splendor,  jewels  were  appended  to  many 
parts  of  the  dress.  The  under  garment  of  the 


PARTHENIA.  3 

Emperor,  a  late  fashion,  was  of  Alexandrian  purple, 
of  so  dazzling  a  brilliancy,  that  it  was  said  any 
other  purple  looked  of  an  ash  color  by  its  side ;  and 
his  slipper,  which  rested  on  a  cushion  embroidered 
in  pearls,  was  incrusted  with  precious  stones. 

Constantius  was  silent,  with  moody  and  angry 
clouds  overshadowing  his  brow.  Occasionally  he 
strode  impatiently  about  the  apartment,  or  nervous 
ly  changed  his  posture  on  the  couch ;  he  was  wait 
ing,  restless  and  gloomy,  for  some  expected  event. 
At  last  he  started,  as  the  usher  hastily  drew  aside 
the  curtain  that  covered  the  door,  and  announced 
that  the  Bishops  of  Milan  and  of  Antioch  craved 
permission  to  enter. 

XlieJOhurch  had  long  since  thrown  off  the  sim 
plicity  of  the  Apostolic  times.  The  Bishops  had 
laid  aside  the  staff  and  the  scrip  with  which  the 
Apostles  travelled,  and  an  ostentatious  cortege 
brought  them  to  the  palace  of  the  Emperor.  Upon 
this  occasion,  their  car  was  drawn  by  four  Thessa- 
lian  horses  of  spotless  white.  Their  robes  were 
gorgeous,  and  they  were  honored  at  the  court  of 
Constantius  with  more  homage  than  the  great  offi 
cers  of  the  Empire. 

What  officer  of  state  would  the  Empress  have 
received  with  such  docile  humility  as  she  did  these 
successors  of  the  fishermen  ?  ^As  soon  as  they  had 


4  PARTHENIA. 

paid  their  respects  to  the  Emperor,  she  descended 
from  her  seat  and  stood  humbly  before  them  itntil 
a  sign  from  Constantius  required  her  to  kneel  for 
their  blessing.  The  proud  Eusebia  knelt  and  bent 
her  head,  while  the  older  of  the  two  Bishops  held 
his  spread  hands  above  her,  calling  her  "  blessed 
among  women,"  "  the  mother  of  the  Church,"  etc. 
Then  he  raised  her  from  her  knees,  and,  at  a  sign 
from  the  Emperor,  she  returned  to  her  seat  in  the 
window.  There,  while  apparently  watching  the 
crimson  glow  of  the  setting  sun  upon  the  snowy 
ridges  of  the  Alps,  her  color  changed  with  her  va 
rying  emotions,  now  pale  and  now  heightened  by 
an  angry  flush  as  she  listened  silently  to  the 
whispers  in  the  apartment,  indicating  that  a  subject 
of  extreme  interest  for  her  or  for  her  friends  was 
under  discussion  by  the  Bishops. 

Soon  she  caught  the  sound  of  a  not  distant  trum 
pet,  and  the  rapid  click  of  the  hoofs  of  approaching 
horses  was  heard.  Preceded  by  guards,  and  borne 
by  African  slaves  upon  a  gorgeous  litter,  Eusebius, 
the  favorite  eunuch,  entered  the  court  below.  The 
Emperor's  privacy  was  governed  by  this  man,  who 
received  the  infamous  title  of  Prefect  of  the  Bed 
chamber,  and  through  his  arts  of  flattery  and  in1 
triguc,  assisted  by  the  fears,  the  indolence,  and  the 
vanity  of  Constantius,  he  ruled  the  court  with  al- 


PARTHENIA.  5 

most  absolute  power.  He  alone  had  persuaded  the 
Emperor  to  subscribe  the  condemnation  of  the  elder 
of  his  cousins,  the  unfortunate  Gallus,  who,  with 
his  brother  Julian,  were,  as  we  have  said,  all  that 
remained  of  the  house  of  Constantino. 

"Without  waiting  to  be  announced,  and  with 
haughty  strides,  as  though  entirely  secure  of  the 
favor  of  the  weak  Emperor,  the  eunuch  entered. 
He  bent  low  to  the  Empress. 

"  What  of  the  Caesar  ?  "  asked  Constantius,  im 
patiently. 

"  May  all  the  enemies  of  Constantius  lie  as  low 
as  Gallus,"  he  answered,  as  he  made  a  significant 
gesture. 

Constantius  started  from  his  couch  and  clapped 
his  hands  with  violence  ;  the  guards  in  the  ante 
room  moved  towards  the  tapestry.  "  For  God's 
sake,"  cried  the  Empress,  starting,  and  now  for  the 
first  time  speaking,  "  what  would  you  do  ?  " 

"  In  the  first  place,  send  an  express,  if  possible 
to  save  my  cousin,  and  next,  order  this  man's 
head  to  the  block." 

The  eunuch  dropped  upon  one  knee  at  the  foot 
stool  of  the  Emperor,  and  the  pallor  of  his  coun 
tenance  became,  if  possible,  of  a  more  deadly  hue. 

"  Stay,"  cried  the  Empress,  "  are  you  in  such 
haste  to  undo  what  you  have  so  long  desired  to 


6  PABTHENIA. 

accomplish  ?  Those  whom  you  have  feared  as  the 
sharers  or  disturbers  of  your  government  are  now 
thrust  from  your  path  ;  no  shadow  — " 

At  this  moment  a  messenger  was  announced, 
and  pages  entered  bearing  upon  cushions  the  jew 
elled  slippers  and  other  ornaments  of  the  Caesar, 
Gallus. 

"  You  have  nothing  more  to  fear, —  Gallus  is  de 
stroyed,"  continued  the  Empress,  glancing  at  the 
empty  slippers. 

"  One  remains,"  said  the  Emperor,  signing  to 
the  eunuch  to  rise,  and  dismissing  with  a  nod  the 
guards  who  had  entered.  "  Ah !  one  remains,  upon 
whom,  if  we  believe  report,  have  descended  all  the 
gifts  of  mind  and  person  of  the  Claudian  name. 
While  he  breathes  in  yonder  fortress,  the  Empire 
is  not  safe." 

"  Julian  !  that  poor-souled  pedant,"  said  the 
Empress.  "  Ah,  Sire,  give  him  his  Homer  and  his 
beloved  Greek  poets,  and  you  will  have  nothing 
to  fear  from  him." 

The  eunuch  turned  his  cold,  sarcastic  eye  upon 
the  Empress  with  an  expression  which  made  the 
blood  rush  over  cheek  and  brow.  She  bent  to 
conceal  it  upon  the  footstool  of  the  Emperor. 
"  Yes,  Sire,"  she  repeated,  "  the  cool  blood  of 
Julian  warms  only  to  romantic  dreams  of  Pan  and 
his  Fauns  and  Dryades." 


PARTHENIA.  7 

"  Cool-blooded,  do  you  call  the  Prince  ?  "  said 
the  eunuch  ;  "  I  have  seen  the  proud  young  blood 
flush  his  cheek,  and  the  fiery  glance  of  his  eye. 
I  have  much  of  import  to  reveal  to  you,  Sire, 
from  the  report  of  those  who  observed  Julian  in 
Ionia  —  " 

"  Ah !  "  said  the  Empress,  "  spies  and  tale-bear 
ers  !  how  much  more  to  be  feared  than  poison  or 
dagger  ! " 

"  The  young  dissembler  is  too  cautious  for  out 
side  and  common  reporters  to  fathom.  He  is  yet 
zealous  for  the  Church,  but  Maximus  is  his  teach 
er,"  said  the  eunuch. 

"  Has  he  not  been  building  the  tombs  of  the 
martyrs  ?  "  asked  Eusebia. 

"  Ah,  yes,  with  one  hand,  and  pulling  down  the 
cross  with  the  other.  He  is  no  longer  an  obedient 
son  of  the  Church —  " 

"  That  is,  he  no  longer  submits  his  conscience  to 
the  rule  of  those  who  curse  him  in  this  life,  or 
in  the  future.  He  refuses  to  place  his  neck  be 
neath  the  bare  feet  of  the  monks." 

"  By  all  the  saints,  as  true  as  that  sun  will  shine 
to-morrow,"  said  Eusebius,  "  although,  Sire,  you 
have  forbidden  him  to  listen  to  the  lectures  of 
Libanius,  he  has  put  his  soul  into  the  hands  of 
Maximus  and  the  arch-sophists  !  " 


8  PARTHENIA. 

"  It  is  true,"  said  the  Emperor,  "  Julian  would 
place  Olympus  above  Calvary.  If  lie  should  ever 
be  Emperor,  which  the  saints  avert,  he  would 
bring  back  the  old  Gods,  open  the  temples,  re 
new  the  sacrifices  —  " 

"  Sire,"  said  the  Empress,  "  you  mistake  the 
character  of  Julian.  The  Prince  is  a  night-dream 
er,  a  star-gazer.  Let  him  carry  his  owls  to  Athens ; 
there  in  the  midst  of  the  schools  and  the  philoso 
phers,  the  wits  and  the  necromancers,  he  will 
dream,  and  you  will  forget  to  fear  him." 

"  I  know  the  Prince,"  said  Eusebius ;  "  unstable 
as  water,  he  shall  not  excel." 

It  was  the  purpose  of  the  Empress  to  represent 
Julian  to  the  Emperor  as  a  dreamer  and  a  poet, 
also  as  rather  weak  and  uncertain  in  character,  in 
order  to  disarm  his  suspicions,  and  induce  him  to 
spare  the  life  of  this,  the  last  of  his  family.  She 
had  always  been  his  firm  friend.  She  was  scarcely 
older  than  Julian,  and  certainly  would  have  been 
captivated  by  the  fascination  of  his  character,  had 
not  destiny  too  early  made  her  the  wife  of  Constan- 
tius.  Her  penetration  early  discovered  the  real 
superiority  of  Julian's  character  to  all  the  other 
descendants  of  Constantino .  If  she  sometimes 
feared  the  bold,  erratic  fire  of  his  genius,  she  saw 
beneath  an  ardor  for  truth,  an  enthusiasm  of  gen- 


PARTHENIA.  9 

erosity,  and  a  love  of  beauty,  to  which  the  quick 
sensibilities  of  her  woman's  heart  responded. 

The  creatures  of  Constantius  would  have  com 
passed  the  destruction  of  the  Prince  in  order  to 
remove  the  consequences  of  future  anger  at  the 
death  of  all  his  family,  should  he  at  length  suc 
ceed  the  Emperor.  Eusebia's  vigilance  in  protect 
ing  the  young  Julian  had  drawn  upon  herself  cruel 
suspicions.  In  this  corrupt  court,  her  interest  in 
him  had  been  ascribed  to  motives  degrading  to 
the  Empress  ;  but  the  brave-hearted  woman  had 
never  ceased  her  vigilance.  She  had  always  by 
secret  message,  under  cover  of  sign  or  cipher, 
warned  him  of  his  enemies  in  time  for  the  Prince 
to  escape  their  snares. 

Even  at  this  moment,  the  countenance  of  the 
eunuch,  although  guarded  as  by  a  mask  of  clay, 
expressed  suspicions  dishonoring  to  the  Empress. 
She  was  aware  of  the  thoughts  of  his  degraded  soul, 
but  she  still  interceded  with  the  Emperor. 

"  In  Athens,"  she  continued,  "  Julian  will  be 
preserved  from  all  ambitious  thoughts.  .  His  be 
loved  philosophy,  his  adored  Homer,  the  arts,  are 
all  dearer  to  his  visionary  soul  than  all  the  toys 
of_  ambition." 

"  Ah!  yes,  send  him  to  Athens,  the  forcing-house 
of  Paganism,  where  we  cannot  enter  a  street,  or 


10  PARTHENIA. 

turn  a  corner,  without  stumbling  upon  a,  naked 
God  or  a  veiled  Divinity,"  said  the  Emperor. 

"  Yes,"  said  the  eunuch,  "  in  Athens,  where  the 
Gods  outnumber  the  men !  Ah !  there  this  young 
heathen  soul  will  expand  and  bear  its  accursed 
fruit." 

Eusebia  colored  with  indignation.  Julian  she 
knew  had  been  a  reader  in  the  Church,  and  this 
direct  charge  of  apostasy  was  to  her  as  false  as  it 
was  malicious.  The  Empress  was  silent,  and  the 
eunuch  continued,  in  a  tone  of  reproach,  —  "  While 
the  heathen  temples  remain  open,  and  sacrifices 
are  permitted,  and  the  Prince  has  liberty  to  pass 
through  all  parts  of  the  Empire,  he  not  only  gathers 
all  the  influences  of  Heathenism,  but  the  prestige 
of  his  character  draws  after  him  all  restless  souls, 
and  all  who  turn  from  the  evening  to  the  rising 
sun." 

"  Whither  would  you  lead  me?"  asked  the  Em 
peror,  turning  pale,  excited  by  the  thought  of  hav 
ing  Julian  within  his  power. 

"  Let  him  be  here !  Here  he  can  be  watched 
and  guarded.  His  acts,  his  thoughts,  cannot  escape 
your  knowledge." 

"  But  how  ?  every  movement  of  the  court  would 
excite  his  vigilance." 

"  Send  him  under  your  own  hand  a  guaranty  of 


PARTHENIA.  11 

safety,  a  guard  of  honor,  —  an  escort  to  the  court 
at  Milan.  Once  here,  under  the  surveillance  of 
your  trusted  servants,  it  will  be  strange  if  we  do 
not  find  the  means  to  give  the  dreamer  quiet 
dreams  —  " 

The  Emperor  turned  deadly  pale  !  "  Tempter," 
he  hissed  through  his  shut  teeth,  and  the  eunuch 
left  the  apartment. 

"  Liar !  Poisoner !  Assassin !  "  whispered  the 
Empress,  as  she  approached  the  Emperor,  and  knelt 
upon  his  footstool.  She  did  not  assume  this  place 
in  an  humble,  but  in  a  playful  mood.  "  Sire,  it  is 
the  very  worst  use  you  can  make  of  the  last  of  your 
family,  the  only  one  you  could  convert  into  a  friend, 
to  give  him  a  prey  to  his  slanderous  enemies.  Far 
better  send  after  him  the  final  mandate."  She 
made  a  gesture  sufficiently  suggestive  of  her  mean 
ing. 

"  And  can  your  transcendent  wisdom  suggest 
nothing  better  than  the  last  sublime  hint  ?  " 

"  Sire !  a  thousand  times  better ;  send  him  to 
Athens.  There,  in  the  schools  of  philosophy,  with 
his  Plato  and  dreams  of  perfection,  he  will  imagine 
himself  the  God-man  that  Plato  has  dreamed." 

"It  is  too  late  for  Roman  women  to  imitate 
those  barbarian  Germans  who  dictate  to  their  hus 
bands,  and  assume  the  direction  of  affairs  of  state." 


12  PARTHENIA. 

"Sire,  I  am  only  anxious  for  your  own  honor. 
Would  you  burden  your  conscience  with  the  crime 
of  your  great  ancestor  ?  " 

"  The  waters  of  the  Jordan  have  washed  away 
all  the  crimes  of  Constantino,  and  in  future  he  will 
be  hailed,  '  the  great,  the  good.' ': 

"Yet  that  golden  statue  bears  witness  to  his 
eternal  remorse,  —  'To  my  son,  whom  I  unjustly 
condemned.'  Sire,  you  have  earned  his  fame,  his 
renown ;  do  not  also  earn  his  remorse,  his  una 
vailing  repentance ! " 

At  length  Constantius  yielded,  and  the  Empress, 
before  she  left  him,  obtained  a  promise  from  him 
that  he  would  send  an  order  to  Julian  to  visit  the 
court,  and  a  guard  of  honor  to  conduct  him  to 
Milan. 


13 


CHAPTER    II. 

THE  PRINCE. 

IT  was  the  purpose  of  the  Empress,  in  order  to 
save  the  life  of  Julian,  to  represent  him  to  the 
Emperor  as  fickle,  uncertain,  a  dreamer,  an  enthu 
siast  for  all  that  was  unreal  and  imaginary,  and  as 
also  deficient  in  practical  talent.  Perhaps  in  early 
youth  he  was  so.  She  was  not  wholly  ignorant  of 
his  secret  disaffection  towards  the  Christian  faith. 
To  this  faith  he  had  been  rather  devoted  through 
baptism  than  truly  instructed  and  educated  in  its 
precepts,  while  the  Pagan  poets  and  philosophers 
had  been  his  daily  food  and  delight. 

"  By  his  Christian  instructors  the  young  and  ar 
dent  Julian  was  bound  down  to  a  course  of  the 
strictest  observances ;  the  midnight  vigil,  the  fast, 
the  long  and  weary  prayer,  and  visits  to  the  tombs 
of  martyrs,  rather  than  a  wise  and  rational  initia 
tion  in  the  genuine  principles  of  the  Gospel,  or  a 
familiarity  with  the  originality,  the  beauty,  and  the 


14  PAKTHENIA. 

depth  of  the  Christian  morals  and  Christian  relig 
ion.  For  six  years,  he  bitterly  asserts,  he  was  de 
prived  of  every  kind  of  useful  instruction."  His 
Christianity  was  but  the  compulsory  obedience  of 
youth  to  the  distasteful  lessons  of  education  en 
forced  by  the  hateful  authority  of  a  tyrannical  rela 
tive  ;  thus  taught  and  enforced,  it  was  inseparably 
connected  with  the  irksome  and  distasteful  feelings 
of  confinement  and  degradation. 

His  cruel  enemy,  the  destroyer  of  his  family,  was 
a  Christian,  and  this  secretly  excited  his  hatred, 
while  the  complete  subjection  in  which  he  was  held 
by  the  Church  disgusted  the  mind  of  the  young 
Prince,  a  mind  eminently  ambitious,  and  endued 
with  the  love  of  freedom.  Julian,  it  is  recorded, 
spent  his  days  and  nights  in  the  study  of  the  Pagan 
authors.  His  intense  admiration  for  the  great 
men  of  antiquity  led  him  to  wish  their  instructions 
might  be  true.  Temptations,  also,  to  forsake  Chris 
tianity  were  everywhere  around  him.  Idolatry 
was  shaken,  but  not  destroyed.  The  temples  were 
closed,  but  not  impaired.  Sacrifices  to  the  heathen 
Gods  were  forbidden,  but  the  heathen  games  con 
tinued  to  be  celebrated,  and  while  they  recalled  the 
gorgeous  festivals  of  poetry  and  music,  perfumes 
and  incense,  processions  of  youths  and  virgins  with 
scattered  flowers  and  songs  of  triumph,  they  offered 


PARTHENIA.  15 

to  the  imagination  and  the  senses  the  most  attract 
ive  excitement. 

Pagans  shared  with  Christians  some  of  the  high 
est  offices  in  the  Empire.  Although  a  very  large 
number  of  educated  persons  had  been  drawn  into 
the  Christian  Church,  stillv  men  of  letters,  poets, 
philosophers,  sophists,  teachers,  held  their  faith  in 
the  Pagan  superstitions,  and  taught  them  in  the 
schools  and  academies  where  resorted  the  youth 
of  the  Empire.  From  his  love  of  what  they  taught, 
Julian  made  these  his  companions  and  friends ;  and 
such  was  the  fascination  of  the  young  Prince,  that 
all  whom  lie  sought,  he  attracted  irresistibly  to 
himself. 

Where  now  was  the  object  of  all  this  solicitude 
of  the  Empress  and  of  Constantius,  which  we  have 
mentioned  in  the  last  chapter  ?  After  the  death 
of  his  brother  Gallus,  Julian  had  been  allowed  to 
inherit  the  fortune  and  the  estate  of  their  mother, 
and  had  also  received  permission  to  travel  in  certain 
parts  of  the  Empire,  it  being  tacitly  understood  that 
he  should  not  present  himself  at  the  court.  Atten 
tion  was  drawn  towards  him  as  the  probable  heir 
of  Constantius,  and  this  made  him  the  centre  of 
attraction  to  sycophants  and  flatterers ;  added  to 
this,  the  singular  traits  of  his  character  drew 
towards  him  all  that  was  strange  and  eccentric, 


16  PARTHENIA. 

as  well  as  much  that  was  distinguished  and  in 
tellectual. 

Now  that  he  was  permitted  to  travel,  he  woiild 
appease  that  burning  thirst  he  felt  to  penetrate 
the  secrets  of  the  future ;  he  would  explore  the 
occult  sciences ;  he  would  visit  the  magicians  and 
philosophers  ;  he  would  anticipate  what  of  good 
or  evil  time  had  in  store  for  him,  and  rifle  from 
the  hands  of  the  future  the  destiny  it  concealed. 

Edicius,  the  chief  of  the  Platonists,  dwelt  at 
Pergamos.  Julian,  Prince  of  the  Empire,  deter 
mined  to  visit  with  a  splendid  retinue  the  vener 
able  man,  who,  although  bowed  with  years  and 
infirmities,  yet  retained  a  healthy  and  vigorous 
mind.  The  Prince  had  caused  his  visit  to  be 
preceded  by  costly  presents,  hoping  thus  to  pro 
pitiate  the  ancient  Stoic  ;  but  his  mortification 
was  great,  upon  entering  the  vestibule  of  the 
house,  to  find  them  all  returned. 

"  Amiable  Prince,"  said  the  old  man,  "  you 
know  that  my  heart  craves  the  happiness  to  serve 
you,  but  my  body  will  not  second  its  efforts.  It 
is,  as  you  see,  an  old  edifice,  ready  to  fall  into 
ruins." 

"  I  ask  only  words  from  your  mouth  to  direct 
me  where  to  find  the  truth." 

"  Noble  Prince  !  you,  a  follower  of  the  Nazarene, 


PARTHENIA.  17 

a  disciple  of  Matthew  and  of  Paul,  —  do  you  come 
to  Edicius  for  wisdom  ?" 

"  I  am  tired  of  the  long  prayers,  the  fasts,  and 
night-watches,  to  which  I  have  been  subjected. 
Look  at  me.  Is  this  robust  form,  this  blooming 
health,  to  be  consumed  in  kneeling  at  altars  and 
in  repeating  long  prayers  at  midnight  ?  " 

"  But  philosophy  demands  long  night-watches, 
and  the  subjection  of  the  flesh  to  the  spiritual 
nature." 

"  I  seek  divine  philosophy  as  a  beneficent  guide 
to  the  truth.  Christianity  has  been  to  me  only  a 
scourge  in  the  hands  of  tyrants* and  hypocrites." 

There  was  so  much  of  bitterness  in  Julian's 
invectives  that  the  aged  philosopher  perceived  that 
the  enmity  and  persecution  of  the  Emperor  were 
driving  Julian  to  excesses,  which  would  perhaps 
end  in  rebellion. 

"  I  cannot  help  you,  said  the  old  man ;  "  I 
advise  you  to  seek  my  true  disciples,  —  you  will 
find  with  them  an  inexhaustible  source  of  light 
and  wisdom." 

"  Ah,"  said  Julian,  «  to  whom  shall  I  go  ?  " 

"  Procles  has  gone  to  Greece,"  said  the  sage. 
"  Maximus  is  at  Ephesus,  — he  will  initiate  you 
into  those  sacred  mysteries  which  will  make  you 
blush  to  be  anything  but  a  noble  man." 

2* 


18  PABTHENIA. 

Julian  bent  and  kissed  the  hem  of  the  old  man's 
garment. 

"  Maximus,"  he  continued,  "  is  one  of  my  oldest 
and  most  skilful  disciples,  but  he  admits  follies, 
and  dark  mysteries  such  as  I  can  never  adopt." 

"  Adieu,"  said  Julian  ;  "  you  have  shown  me  the 
man  whom  I  seek." 

"  But  remember,"  said  Edicius,  impressively, 
"  that  the  essential  aim  of  all  philosophy  is  to 
purify  and  enlighten  the  reason." 

"  Ah,  yes,"  —  and  he  hastily  embraced  and  left 
the  old  man,  who  turned  from  the  door,  his  long 
white  hair  streaming  towards  the  Prince  as  though 
it  would  again  recall  him. 


19 


CHAPTER    III. 

THE  MAGICIAN. 

WITH  all  the  impetuosity  of  a  young  man  seeking 
an  unknown  but  priceless  good,  Julian  travelled  to 
Epliesus.  The  luxurious  gardens  that  surrounded 
the  city  imparted  a  new  charm  to  the  lovely  climate 
of  Ionia,  and  perhaps  furnished  an  excuse  for  the 
effeminate  character  of  its  inhabitants.  The  robust 
nature  of  the  Prince  preserved  him  from  yielding  to 
the  softening  influences  of  climate,  or  to  the  indul 
gences  of  effeminate  habits. 

Although  he  was  now  travelling  with  a  retinue 
becoming  his  princely  rank,  he  knew  that  Maximus 
was  not  a  man  to  be  dazzled  by  external  splendor ; 
he  therefore  laid  aside  all  indications  of  his  station, 
and,  clad  in  a  simple  Greek  dress,  on  foot,  and 
followed  only  by  Mardonius,  the  slave  who  had 
been  the  favorite  of  his  mother,  and  from  his  in 
fancy  his  own  attached  attendant,  he  traversed  the 
environs  of  Ephesus,  and  entered  one  of  the  gar- 


20  PARTHENIA. 

dens,  ill  which  a  lowly  building  stood  alone,  de 
tached  from  all  others. 

Small  but  luxuriant  was  the  garden  of  the 
philosopher,  the  sophist,  or  rather  the  magician, 
whose  long  pursuit  of  the  occult  sciences  and  of 
divination,  which,  in  this  age,  was  relied  on  to 
reveal  the  secrets  of  the  future,  but  tended  to 
shroud  the  possessor  in  deeper  mystery. 

The  heat  of  the  noonday  sun  was  excluded  by 
overhanging  luxuriant  vines,  among  which  was 
heard  the  sound  of  busy  insects  and  innumerable 
birds,  sometimes  interrupted  by  the  tinkling  of 
fountains  and  the  lapse  of  running  streams  so 
dispersed  as  to  cool  the  heat  of  noon.  It  was  late 
in  the  afternoon  when  Julian  entered  the  garden ; 
indeed,  the  lights  and  shadows  were  becoming 
mingled  and  indistinct  through  the  softening  shade 
of  twilight,  that  seemed  still  to  linger  as  though 
reluctant  to  veil  so  much  beauty  in  the  darker 
mantle  of  night.  The  falling  dew  had  condensed 
the  fragrant  perfumes,  scattered  in  the  hot  beams 
of  the  sun,  and  the  flowers,  their  beauty  thus  veiled, 
still  gave  out  tokens  of  their  love. 

Maximus  dwelt  in  the  humble  edifice  belonging 
to  this  garden.  He  was  a  man  past  seventy,  al 
though  his  robust  frame  seemed  to  bear  well  the 
weight  of  years.  A  venerable  white  beard  reached 


PARTHENIA.  21 

to  his  girdle,  and  his  eyes,  of  an  indescribable  color, 
in  which  youth  and  age  seemed  strangely  blended, 
flashed  from  beneath  the  overhanging  brow.  These 
eyes  were  penetrating  in  their  glance,  and  over 
powering  in  their  fixed  expression,  and  his  voice 
was  capable  of  the  most  insinuating  and  varied 
melody,  so  that,  when  voice  and  eye  united  to  cap 
tivate  those  who  addressed  him,  none  could  resist 
the  enchantment.  These  external  advantages,  to 
gether  with  the  report  of  his  researches  into  the 
hidden  mysteries  of  science,  caused  him  to  be  re 
garded  by  the  Pagans  as  one  inspired  by  the  Gods, 
and  by  the  Christians  as  one  under  the  influence  of 
the  Prince  of  Evil. 

Maximus  had  received  secret  information  that 
the  Prince,  in  this  crisis  of  his  life,  would  seek 
counsel  from  him.  As  he  approached  the  old 
man,  the  contrast  of  his  blooming  youth,  his  fine, 
although  not  altogether  symmetrical  features,  and 
his  bright,  penetrating  eye,  was  felt  by  the  philos 
opher,  always  accustomed  to  remark  the  peculiar 
personal  advantages  of  different  men.  Julian  also 
affected  the  Grecian  costume,  and,  contrary  to  the 
Roman  fashion,  his  yet  scanty  beard  was  cultivated 
with  the  utmost  care. 

Maximus  rose  from  his  seat,  an  unusual  act  of 
deference  to  the  near  relation  of  the  Emperor,  and 


22  PARTHENIA. 

displayed  by  rising  the  tunic,  embroidered  with  ex 
quisite  workmanship,  -which  he  had  assumed  upon 
this  occasion.  Upon  his  breast  a  triangle  was 
wrought  in  gold ;  beneath  that  a  single  eye,  the 
pupil  of  which  was  formed  of  a  priceless  sapphire ; 
the  lashes  of  thin,  dazzling  rubies ;  over  the  upper 
lid,  formed  of  small  diamonds,  was  the  single  let 
ter  Beth.  The  outer  garment  consisted  of  a  long- 
purple  cloak,  and  upon  his  feet  were  embroidered 
sandals,  faded  and  worn.  Divers  crucibles  and 
other  appurtenances  of  his  art  lay  upon  a  table, 
together  with  elixirs,  salts,  and  perfumes,  while 
instruments,  and  books  half  unrolled,  were  care 
lessly  thrown  about  the  apartment.  Even  the 
Lares  and  Penates  were  not  omitted.  Upon  a 
low  marble  altar  stood  a  small  statue  of  Apollo 
of  pure  gold,  whose  radiated  brow  showed  that  it 
was  intended  as  an  emblem  of  the  orb  of  day ;  by 
his  side  was  a  still  smaller  silver  statue  of  the  twin 
sister  of  Apollo,  the  Goddess  Diana.  Maximus  was 
also  a  worshipper  of  nature  as  represented  by  the 
heathen  Divinity  Pan.  In  a  small  grotto-like  re 
cess  stood  an  image  of  Pan,  with  the  face  and  breast 
of  a  man.  Upon  his  breast  there  shone  a  single 
radiant  star  ;  his  robe  was  also  sprinkled  with  stars, 
and  he  held  in  his  hand  a  pipe  of  reeds. 

Julian  approached,  and  said  in  a  voice  rendered 


PARTHENIA.  23 

tremulous  by  feeling  :  "  Pardon,  O  Maximus  ! 
this  intrusion.  Thy  great  fame  has  reached  me 
even  in  the  place  of  banishment  to  which  my 
august  cousin  has  condemned  me  for  so  many 
years.  I  would  not  leave  Ionia  without  commun 
ing  with  thy  wisdom." 

Maximus  saw  at  once  that  Julian  was  in  earnest, 
and  he  was  instantly  confirmed  in  the  plan  pro 
jected  by  Crysanthius  and  other  philosophers  to 
augment  the  Prince's  delusions,  and  establish  his 
faith  in  the  heathen  Deities. 

"  Welcome  I  "  said  the  old  magician ;  "  this  is 
an  auspicious  day  that  brings  to  my  humble  roof 
the  heir  of  the  empire  of  the  world." 

"  Pardon,"  said  Julian  ;  "  not  so  fast,  venerable 
Maximus.  I  come  as  the  humblest  of  pupils,  to 
learn  of  thy  wisdom.  I  come  to  be  helped  to 
decide  the  great  questions  now  burdening  my 
thoughts." 

"  That  is  ?  —  These  are  ?  "  said  Maximus,  affect 
ing  ignorance.  "  Ah  !  is  it  the  question  as  old  as 
the  world,  —  What  is  truth  ?  " 

"No,"  said  Julian,  whose  thoughts  were  always 
too  rapid  for  his  utterance.  "  Do  not  affect  igno 
rance  !  I  wish  to  make  the  inward  revelation  of 
the . Divinity,  which  I  feel  in  myself,  universal; 
and  to  give  new  life  to  its  expression  in  many 


24  PAETHENIA. 

beautiful  forms.     I  would  also  revive  its  worship  in 
the  ancient  Divinities." 

"  You  believe  yourself  favored  and  protected  by 
these  Divinities?  " 

"  Whether  a  favorite  or  not,  I  receive  from  them 
daily  benefits.  Apollo,  in  his  living  image,  the  sun, 
sends  his  rays  to  enlighten  me.  Diana's  milder 
light  cheers  me  at  night  — " 

"But  these  blessings,"  said  Maxinms,  "are  com 
mon  to  all." 

"  Ah,  yes !  But  Minerva,  the  virgin  Goddess, 
is  ever  near  me  with  her  whispered  counsels.  Apol 
lo,  the  glorious,  inspires  me  with  poetry  and  wis 
dom.  Can  I  desert  these  beneficent  beings  to  wor 
ship  a  mere  man,  a  malefactor,  crucified  between 
thieves  ? " 

"  One  truth  must  be  granted,"  said  Maxinms, 
"wherever  this  new  doctrine  of  the  Galilean  has 
been  received,  the  condition  of  society  is  amelio 
rated,  industry  revives,  quarrels  cease,  marriage  is 
pure,  the  poor  and  the  sick  are  sheltered.  Even 
in  this  city  of  Ephesus  the  example  of  the  Chris 
tians  has  checked  the  extremest  of  immoralities." 

"  The  immortal  Gods  grant  me  but  life  and  op 
portunity,"  said  Julian  with  impetuosity,  "  and^we^ 
will  unite  this  order,  this  industry,  this  humane 
spirit,  this  purity  of  manners,  which  does  not  be- 


PAETHENIA.  25 

long  solely  to  those  you  call  Christians,  with  the 
Grecian  spirit  of  beauty,  with  the  living  Divinities 
which  are  everywhere  around  us." 

"Your  rnind  is  then  fixed?  you  are  ready  to 
avow  your  faith  in  the  old  Divinities?  " 

"  No !  most  venerable  Maximus.  I  demand  from 
you  a  proof,  a  sign,  a  voice,  —  something  from  the 
celestial,  or  the  infernal  powers,  which  shall  be  ir 
resistible —  " 

"  Noble  Prince,  have  you  prepared  yourself  for 
this  revelation  from  the  invisible  world  by  silence, 
fasting,  and  purification  from  all  earthly  dross  ?  " 

"I  cannot  avow  that  I  have  spent,  as  you  de 
mand  of  your  disciples,  twenty-five  years  in  unbro 
ken  silence  in  the  desert,  abstaining  from  all  food 
except  that  which  Nature's  bounty  provides  for  the 
humblest  of  her  pensioners.  But  for  the  twenty 
years  of  my  life,  the  pure  fountain  gushing  from 
the  earth  has  been  my  sole  beverage,  and  my  food 
only  bread  and  fruits." 

"  Prince !  in  what  form  shall  I  answer  your  de 
mand?" 

Julian  mused  a  moment.  a  Let  me  behold  my 
mother,  and  faith  in  your  art  will  follow." 

"  Basilina  ?  the  beautiful  wife  of  Julius  Constan- 
tius  ?  "  said  Maximus. 

"  Alas !  she  left  me  too  early  to  imbue  my  young 

3 


26  PARTHENIA. 

soul  with  her  own  strong  faith,  or  these  doubts  per 
haps  would  never  have  tormented  her  son." 

"  She  was  a  Christian  ?  "  asked  Maximus. 

"  In  that  fearful  tragedy,  when  all  were  slain  but 
Gallus  and  myself,  I  was  torn  from  my  mother, 
and  her  death  soon  after  effaced  from  my  mem 
ory  all  but  the  deep  impression  of  her  beautiful 
features." 

"  Come  what  may,"  said  Maximus,  in  a  tremu 
lous  voice,  "  follow  me." 

He  led  the  way  to  a  very  small  apartment,  which 
appeared  dark  and  empty ;  but  as  Julian's  eyes  be 
came  accustomed  to  the  obscurity,  he  saw,  occu 
pying  one  side  of  the  room,  a  mirror  of  intensely 

polished  steel.     As  Maximus  kindled  various  col- 

/ 
ored  lamps  about  the  room,  the  splendor  of  this 

metallic  mirror  would  have  been  intolerable,  had 
there  not  been  suspended  between  it  and  Julian 
divers  veils  of  gossamer  almost  as  transparent  as 
woven  air,  or  like  the  gossamer  that  trembles  upon 
the  grass  in  a  dewy  summer  morning.  Maximus 
made  certain  signs,  and  instantly,  like  meteors, 
streams  of  white  light  were  reflected  from  the  mir 
ror,  dazzling  as  the  meridian  sun.  The  light  again 
faded  to  the  softest  moonbeams.  Unseen  by  Ju 
lian,  various  drugs  were  thrown  upon  a  small  light 
ed  altar,  which  instantly  filled  the  room  with  thick 


PARTHENIA.  27 

fumes  of  vapor  and  smoke.  As  this  opened  in  the 
centre,  and  Julian's  attention  was  riveted  upon  the 
mirror,  there  was  gradually  recalled  to  him  the  in 
terior  of  a  Christian  church.  Kneeling  upon  the 
steps  of  the  altar,  where  she  had  fled  for  refuge  from 
assassins,  was  a  young  woman,  pale  and  beautiful, 
with  two  children  clinging  to  her.  One,  of  about 
six  years  old,  she  held  in  her  arms ;  the  other, 
older,  stood  trembling  at  her  side.  An  old  man, 
apparently  their  sole  guardian,  stood  over  them; 
and  in  him  Julian  recognized  Mardonius,  the  faith 
ful  slave,  who  had  been  given  to  his  mother  as  her 
instructor,  and  to  himself  as  a  tutor  and  guardian, 
who  had  never  left  him,  and  was  now  watching  over 
him  in  Ephcsus. 

Julian  gazed  with  intense  feeling ;  gradually  the 
whole  scene  returned  to  his  memory.  It  was  the 
church  to  which  his  mother  fled  for  refuge,  when 
driven  from  her  palace  with  Gallus  and  himself, 
her  only  children.  The  face  of  Basilina  was 
turned  from  him,  but  Julian  felt  intuitively  that  it 
was  the  semblance  of  his  mother.  He  became  a 
child  again,  concealed  his  face  in  his  robe,  and 
wept. 

When  he  looked  up  again,  the  room  was  dark, 
the  whole  vision  had  vanished. 

"It  is  enough,"  he  said  to  Maximus,  who  stood 


28  PAETHENIA. 

at  his  side.     "When  will  you  condescend  to  give 
me  other  proofs  of  your  science  ?  " 

The  magician  approached  the  clepsydra  and 
seemed  to  count  the  hours.  "  To-night,  at  the  hour 
of  midnight,  I  will  meet  you' in  the  cloisters  of  the 
Artemisium,  or  the  great  temple  of  Diana." 


CHAPTER    IY. 

THE  VISION, 

AT  midnight  the  Prince  did  not  fail  to  keep  his 
appointment.  Mardonius  followed  his  footsteps,  for 
he  yet  felt  that  Julian  was  his  pupil,  and  that  he 
must  watch  over  him.  The  philosopher  was  wait 
ing,  and,  with  his  finger  on  his  lip  to  impose  silence 
and  awe,  he  desired  him  to  follow  him  into  the 
temple  of  the  great  Diana  of  the  Ephesians.  The 
magnificence  of  this  temple  exceeded  many  of  the 
most  gorgeous  of  the  fanes  of  the  ancient  Deities. 
The  statue  of  the  Goddess  was  not  that  of  the  sister 
of  Apollo,  with  bow  and  quiver,  her  robe  gracefully 
girt  around  her,  with  the  trusting  hound  reposing 
at  her  feet,  surrounded  by  beautiful  nymphs  who 
have  consecrated  themselves  to  perpetual  virginity. 
This  famous  "  Diana  of  the  Ephesians  "  would 
rather  inspire  disgust  and  fear.  She  resembled 
more  an  Egyptian  mummy  than  the  virgin  sister 
of  Apollo.  Upon  her  head  reposed  the  turreted 


30  PARTHENIA. 

crown  of  Cybele,  surmounted  by  the  lunar  bow. 
Her  breast  was  covered  by  the  signs  of  the  zodiac, 
surrounded  by  flowers  and  acorns.  Between  her 
outstretched  arms  were  the  odious  fountains  of 
many  milky  streams,  and  upon  her  robe,  reaching 
to  her  feet,  were  images  of  all  the  tame  beasts  sub 
jected  to  man's  power ;  while  birds  and  flowers  filled 
every  vacant  space.  It  was  for  this  idol  of  the 
Eplicsians  that  Demetrius  made  those  shrines  of 
gold  and  silver,  whose  decrease  at  the  preaching 
of  Paul,  three  hundred  years  before,  had  so  much 
alarmed  her  worshippers.  Their  number  had  in 
deed  very  much  diminished,  as  Christianity  gained 
proselytes,  but  yet  her  influence  in  Ephesus  was 
great,  and  her  priesthood  corrupt,  and,  like  Maxi- 
mus,  deceivers  and  deceived. 

The  old  man  desired  Julian  to  choose  a  position 
which  was  rather  obscure,  in  front  of  the  image, 
and,  selecting  a  censer  from  the  hand  of  one  of  the 
priests,  ho  seemed  to  inspect  very  closely  the  con 
tents,  and  then,  waving  it  before  the  Goddess,  a 
smile  immediately  illumined  her  face.  Julian,  sus 
pecting  some  deception,  desired  that  the  lamps  of 
the  temple  should  be  lighted.  Instantly,  as  though 
by  magic,  without  human  hands,  every  lamp  was 
kindled,  and  the  whole  temple  flooded  with  a  blaze 
of  light. 


PARTHENIA.  31 

Julian,  astonished  and  agitated,  seized  the  hands 
of  Maximus  to  assure  himself  that  ho  was  a  man 
like  himself. 

"Pshaw!"  said  the  magician,  —  "this  is  but  a 
bagatelle,  —  here  is  nothing  which  ought  to  astonish 
you.  It  is  only  essential  to  keep  your  reason  en 
lightened  and  then  be  convinced." 

"  This  is  all  that  I  wish,"  said  the  Prince. 

"  Then  follow  me,"  said  Maximus  ;  and  he  led 
the  way,  descending  innumerable  steps  beneath 
the  temple  into  an  obscure  grotto,  which  was 
wholly  prepared  and  furnished  for  magical  pur 
poses.  These,  however,  were  not  seen  by  Julian, 
in  the  nearly  total  obscurity  which  prevailed.  No 
word  was  spoken.  The  awe  inspired  by  the  inde 
scribably  palpable  atmosphere,  which  seemed  filled 
with  invisible  spirits,  caused  Julian  to  grasp  the 
warm,  beating  pulse  of  Maximus.  His  own  hand 
was  icy  cold,  and  he  felt  more  than  anything  else 
the  need  of  a  human  heart  near  his  own. 

Maximus  cast  upon  the  altar  various  kinds  of 
incense,  invoking  the  celestial  and  infernal  Deities. 
Distant  sounds  like  thunder,  that  gradually  drew 
nearer,  filled  the  grotto  with  flashes  of  light,  which 
left  the  darkness  more  intense,  till,  in  forms  like 
fire,  Julian  saw  pass  before  him  the  spectres  of 
his  ancestors,  from  Claudian,  the  founder  of  the 


32  PARTHENIA. 

family,  to  Julius  Constantius,  that  gentle  prince, 
his  father,  and,  last  of  all,  his  murdered  brother, 
Gallus.  Julian,  still  a  novice,  was  overpowered 
with  terror,  and,  forgetting  all  but  his  Christian 
education,  made  continually  the  sign  of  the  cross. 

Immediately  the  spectres  vanished.  Maximus, 
afraid  of  losing  his  pupil,  presented  another  and 
more  entrancing  image,  —  Constantius  on  his  death 
bed,  and  Julian  clothed  with  the  insignia  of  Em 
peror  receiving  the  crown  from  the  Roman  Senate. 
Julian,  overpowered  with  terror,  sank  trembling 
upon  his  knees,  and  repeated  again  and  again  the 
Christian  sign.  Again  all  vanished,  and  Julian 
stood  alone  with  the  magician. 

"  Acknowledge,"  said  he,  "  the  power  of  the 
cross.  The  spectres  that  you  invoked  in  the  name 
of  your  Gods  fled  before  the  mere  sign  of  the 
Nazarcne ! " 

"  What !  "  said  Maximus,  observing  that  Julian 
trembled  ;  "  think  you  that  the  Immortals  were 
afraid  of  your  pitiful  sign  ?  -No,  my  Prince,  the 
Gods  will  have  no  commerce  with  a  profane  per 
son,  who  trembles  at  the  thought  of  that  male 
factor  of  Galilee  !  " 

Maximus  saw  that  his  pupil  was  steeped  in  cre 
dulity,  and  he  seized  the  occasion  to  place  before 
him  in  pictured  representations  the  glories  of  the 


PARTHENIA.  33 

restored  heathen  superstitions.  He  impressed  and 
reiterated  the  idea  that  Julian  himself  was  pre 
ordained  by  the  Gods  to  rebuild  their  altars,  re 
store  their  temples,  purify  their  ceremonies,  re- 
imitc  the  ancient  Grecian  beauty  with  the  worship 
of  nature,  and  symbolize  again  that  worship  in 
the  beautiful  forms  of  nymphs  and  dryads,  and  all 
the  exquisite  creations  of  genius. 

Thus  before  he  left  Maximus  he  had  mentally 
renounced  his  allegiance  to  Christianity.  But  for 
a  time  he  must  conceal  the  change.  He  was  in 
deed  a  simple  youth,  without  a  shadow  of  influence. 
His  next  move  might  be  to  a  prison  provided  for 
him  by  his  cousin  the  Emperor.  He  knew  that  he 
had  but  one  friend,  and  that  one  was  the  Empress. 
Humility  was  his  safest  guardian :  he  therefore 
shaved  his  beard,  and  assumed  the  simple  dress 
of  a  Christian  stoic. 


CHAPTER    V. 

EUSEBIA. 

JULIAN,  on  the  point  of  renouncing  Christianity, 
was  apparently  unconscious  how  much  of  it  he  re 
tained  in  his  transfigured  Paganism,  and  how  much 
his  character  had  been  moulded  by  it.  He  believed 
in  a  Supreme  Divinity,  in  the  divine  origin  and  the 
eternal  destiny  of  man ;  he  wished  to  revive  the  old 
heathen  religion  by  means  of  that  internal  revela 
tion  upon  which  the  Platonists  insisted,  and  to  give 
new  life  to  that  from  which  the  living  spirit  had 
fled.  He  possessed  that  philosophic  tendency  which 
strives  to  penetrate  into  the  natural  causes  of  things, 
and  rebels  against  all  unnecessary  belief.  To  him 
the  Supreme  Creator  was  manifested  in  the  various 
forms  of  nature,  which  were  portioned  out  and 
ruled  over  by  the  heathen  Divinities,  and  he  was 
superstitiously  credulous  in  his  belief  in  their  care 
and  guardianship  of  himself.  He  imagined  himself 
their  favorite,  and  he  held  perpetual  communion  of 
love  and  worship  with  them, 


PAETHENIA.  35 

This  arose  from  the  pride  of  his  character ;  —  he 
could  not  admit  the  idea  of  a  divine  nature  in  the 
humble  form  of  a  servant,  with  a  crown  of  thorns. 
He  had  no  ideal  conception  of  true  holiness, 
which  manifests  itself  in  humble  love,  in  disin 
terested  service,  in  hidden,  unassuming  goodness. 
With  all  his  striving  after  an  heroic  virtue,  he  was 
unacquainted  with  his  own  heart ;  he  was  uncon 
scious  of  his  own  imperfections,  and  he  constantly 
allowed  in  himself  a  biting,  sarcastic  tone,  the 
strongest  weapon  he  was  at  this  moment  capable 
of  wielding  against  Christianity. 

Julian  met  Hardening  on  the  steps  of  the  great 
temple.  The  latter  was  pale  as  death,  and  whis 
pered  in  the  ear  of  the  Prince,  that  he  had  seen  the 
captain  of  the  secret  police  of  the  Emperor  lurking 
about  the  temple. 

"  Have  you  seen  the  eunuch  Eusebius  ?  "  asked 
Julian. 

"  God  forbid  !  he  is  not  with  them,  my  Prince." 

"  I  fear  no  other !  "  said  Julian  ;  and,  fortified  as 
he  was  by  the  predictions  of  Haximus,  he  deter 
mined  to  meet  his  enemies  boldly. 

"  Concealment,  flight,  —  anything  is  preferable  to 
the  tender  mercies  of  Constantius,"  cried  his  anx 
ious  servant. 


30  PARTHENIA. 

"  Think  you  that  Minerva  will  desert  her  wor 
shipper  ?  or  that  Apollo,  who  makes  it  light  to  inc, 
will  not  make  it  dark  round  about  my  enemies  ?  " 

"  I  should  place  no  confidence  in  God  or  Goddess ; 
the  Lord  of  Hosts  will  protect  his  own,  if  it  be  his 
will  that  you,  my  Prince,  should  not  fall  into  the 
hands  of  your  enemies." 

Mardonius  was  no  Christian,  neither  was  he  al 
together  a  Heathen.  His  soul  was  imbued  with 
Homer,  and  also  with  the  study  of  the  Jewish 
prophets  and  poets.  He  was  himself  4i  follower 
of  Plato,  [  and  led  what  he  called  an  "  orphic 
life,"  and  taught  his  pupil  those  abstemious  and 
even  ascetic  habits  which  so  offended  the  Anti- 
ochians. 

It  was  too  late  for  concealment  or  flight,  as  the 
guard,  which  the  Emperor  had  ordered  to  conduct 
the  Prince  to  Milan,  were  already  in  one  of  the 
avenues  of  the  temple  waiting  for  him.  He  was 
conducted  secretly,  but  without  violence,  to  Milan, 
where  the  Emperor  and  court  were  then  established. 
The  place  appointed  for  his  residence  was  a  castle 
strongly  fortified  and  guarded ;  and  as  he  entered  its, 
the  fall  of  the  drawbridge,  the  clash  of  the  weapons, 
the  measured  tread  of  sentinels,  told  him  but  too 
plainly,  as  darkness  settled  down  upon  the  castle, 
that  he  was  a  prisoner  in  the  power  of  his  deadly 


PARTHENIA.  37 

enemy.  Ho  had  sufficient  thought  to  conceal  his 
grief  for  the  murder  of  his  brother,  and  prudence 
to  repress  every  complaint ;  and  thus,  for  a  person 
impetuous  and  not  usually  master  of  his  indigna 
tion,  he  proved  that  it  was  not  in  vain  that  he  had 
learnt  self-control  or  dissimulation  in  the  school  of 
Maximus. 

Surrounded  by  spies  and  reporters  of  every  word 
and  every  gesture  to  his  deadly  enemy,  the  eunuch, 
he  longed  for  death  or  exile  to  the  country  of  the 
barbarians. 

The  night  had  fallen,  a  night  without  moon  or 
stars  ;  Julian  had  lighted  his  lamp,  and  by  its  aid 
was  examining  the  small  apartment  forming  his 
prison.  In  a  recess  of  the  wall,  lighted  by  a  high 
window,  he  found  cases  containing  some  of  his  be 
loved  authors.  "  Ah !  "  said  he,  "  here  is  the  provi 
dence  of  my  noble  friend,  the  Empress ;  no  other 
would  have  thought  of  so  precious  a  solace  for  my 
solitary  hours."  In  comparison  with  books,  man 
and  woman  also  were  worthless  to  Julian.  He 
unrolled  his  favorites,  and  soon  everything  else  was 
forgotten,  till  the  watches  of  the  night  were  nearly 
over. 

At  length  he  looked  at  the  clepsydra ;  the  mid 
night  hour  had  passed,  and,  without  the  least  desire 


38  PARTHENIA. 

for  sleep,  he  drew  aside  the  heavy  curtain  and  looked 
into  the  darkness.  No  star  was  visible,  and  the 
only  sounds  were  the  measured  steps  of  the  senti 
nels,  and  the  word  as  they  passed  each  other,  guard 
ing  the  fortress  of  his  prison. 

At  last  he  fancied  he  heard  lighter  footsteps  and 
whispered  words ;  he  perceived  also  a  peculiar  per 
fume,  which  he  remembered  years  ago,  arid  was 
endeavoring  to  recollect  under  what  circumstances, 
when,  turning  towards  the  door,  a  form  enveloped 
in  a  robe  of  black  stood  before  it. 

"  0  blest  Minerva ! "  he  cried,  "  thou  knewest 
that  thy  servant  was  without  consolation,  and  hast 
sent  this  angel  to  assure  and  comfort  me." 

Eusebia  —  for  it  was  the  Empress  —  smiled  at 
this  mingling  in  thought  of  Christian  angels  with 
the  Pagan  Goddess  of  Wisdom,  but  a  shade  of  sor 
row  passed  across  her  noble  brow. 

"Ah!"  she  said,  "the  same  faithlessness  in  wo 
man's  friendship  and  in  God's  protection!" — and 
she  made  the  sign  of  the  cross  as  she  seated  herself 
upon  the  couch  and  signed  to  Julian  to  sit  near  her. 

"  I  should  be  ungrateful  indeed,  did  I  not  believe 
in  you,  noble  friend ;  this  last  proof  of  your  regard 
takes  from  me  all  words  to  express  my  gratitude  ! " 
—  and  he  stooped  so  low  as  to  kiss  the  hem  of  the 
Empress's  robe. 


PARTHENIA.  39 

Julian,  the  lover  of  beauty  in  the  abstract,  was 
singularly  insensible  to  the  beauty  of  women.  He 
had  never  been  enthralled  by  the  lovely  maidens 
attending  the  Empress,  and  for  Eusebia  herself,  to 
whom  contemporary  history  assigns  exquisite  beauty 
and  grace,  as  well  as  singular  loveliness  of  char 
acter,  he  felt  only  reverence  and  gratitude.  She 
was  not  spared  by  the  licentious  tongues  of  that 
age  ;  selfish  and  unworthy  motives  were  assigned  to 
all  her  noble  efforts  to  serve  and  save  him. 

"  Slanderous  and  venomous  tongues  are  even  now 
busy ;  but  who  can  warn  and  shield  you,  should  I 
be  silent  ?  " 

"  Noble  friend,  tell  me,  what  shall  I  do?" 

"Prince,  this  last  step  you  have  so  unwisely 
taken  has  made  your  position  still  more  danger 
ous, —  this  resort  to  sorcerers  and  magicians  —  " 

Julian  turned  pale.  Was  he,  then,  so  closely 
watched?  were  secret  spies  all  around  him? 

"  Was  there  no  assurance  from  Christian  teach 
ers,  no  miracle  of  Christian  faith,  to  teach  you  to 
rely  upon  God's  protection  ?  " 

"  Ah,  your  Majesty !  no  miraculous  cross  has  ap 
peared  moving  before  the  unworthy  descendant  of 
our  great  ancestor,  Constantino,  to  lead  him  on  to 
conquest  as  well  as  crime." 

"  Julian,  you  are  young  ;  you  do  not  understand 


40  PARTHENIA. 

the  terrible  anarchy  and  the  atrocious  crimes  of  this 
age,  and  you  do  not  see  in  the  new  faith  the  dawn 
of  a  new  era,  when  a  purer  religion  shall  bring 
purer  lives,  and  —  " 

"  Pardon  me,  beloved  Princess,  if  I  am  deaf  and 

blind  to  that  which  is  so  clear  to  your  vision.     Did 

^  Constantino's  new  faith   prevent  the  murder  that 

destroyed  the  young  life  of  Crispus,  his  own  son  ?  " 

"  Julian,  that  was  a  fearful  crime,  and  fearfully 
was  it  repented !  Constantino  wept  away  his  life, 
after  being  convinced  of  his  son's  innocence.  Con- 
stantine  committed  sins ;  but  compared  with  those 
Emperors  who  preceded  him,  his  was  a  divine 
soul." 

"  The  new  religion,"  said  Julian,  with  scorn, — 
"  did  it  litter  a  whisper  to  stay  the  murder  of  all 
my  family,  or  a  word  to  prevent  that  last  act  which 
has  left  me  alone  in  the  world,  —  Gallus  !  "  — 
and  the  Empress  saw  tears  in  the  eyes  of  Julian. 

"  Those  were  cruel  acts  of  state  policy  in  those 
who  think  they  must  reign  alone,  or  perish,"  con 
tinued  Eusebia.  "  We  must  look  to  private  life  for 
reforms ;  the  humble  religion  of  Jesus  begins  there. 
All  women  should  be  Christians." 

"  Yes,  your  new  faith  is  suited  to  women,  and  to 
men  like  women.  Pardon  me,  Princess,  —  it  is 
worthy  of  the  abject,  the  cowardly.  But  are  theso 


PARTHENIA.  41 

the  humble  followers  of  the  Nazarcne,  before  whom 
your  Majesty  kneels  to  beg  a  blessing,  and  in  whose 
presence  the  Empress  dare  not  sit,  till  bidden  by  the 
successors  of  the  fishermen  ?  My  blood  boils  with 
indignation." 

"Ah!  Prince,  I  obey  the  order  of  the  Emperor! 
He  would  conciliate  the  Church.  But  all  are 
not  so  —  " 

"  Many  of  these  fishers  of  men  have  caught  in 
their  nets  only  fine  pearls,  and  have  fished  for  dia 
monds  rather  than  for  lost  souls.  See  your  Paul  of 
Antioch  driving  to  the  Basilica  with  his  snow-white 
mules  and  golden  harness.  Even  the  jewels  upon 
his  sandals  are  worth  a  kingdom.  The  proud 
Bishop  calls  himself  the  disciple  of  him  who  trod 
barefoot  the  stony  paths  of  Juda3a.  See  him  in  the 
pulpit ;  the  perfumed  handkerchiefs  of  the  women 
waving  before  him,  and  their  white  hands  clapping 
his  eloquence." 

"  Look  rather,  Julian,  at  the  noble  Bishop  of 
Ca3sarea.  See  his  whole  fortune  given  up  to  the 
poor,  the  aged,  the  orphan,  the  blind.  Look  at  his 
houses  for  the  sick,  the  destitute,  the  stranger !  He 
calls  to  all  the  suffering  to  come  to  him.  His 
houses  for  the  destitute  form  a  town  of  them 
selves." 

"  Yes,  they  form  a  town,"  said  Julian,  "  and  eat 


42  PARTHENIA. 

up  the  country.  Empress !  the  expenses  of  the 
Bishops,  their  carriages,  horses,  servants,  food,  as 
they  travel  at  the  public  cost,  from  council  to  coun 
cil,  to  reconcile  quarrels,  and  to  decide  upon  arti 
cles  of  faith  in  this  new  religion,  which  was  not 
dreamed  of  four  hundred  years  ago,  threaten  to 
destroy  the  Empire.  This  carpenter's  son,  who  per 
ished  as  a  malefactor,  will  cost  the  Empire  more 
than  all  the  gorgeous  worship  of  the  true  Gods.  0 
that  they  would  again  take  possession,  and  put  down 
these  idle,  vain  conceits !  " 

"  Prince,  have  you  forgotten  that  any  institution, 
Divine  or  human,  which  would  rouse  and  interest 
the  multitude,  must  either  surround  itself  with 
splendor,  witli  gorgeous  rites,  sacrifices,  incense,  or 
must  work  moral  miracles.  The  majority  are  in 
capable  of  appreciating  the  simplicity,  the  true  mor 
al  sublimity,  of  him  who,  though  equal  with  God, 
made  himself  the  servant  of  all  —  " 

"  And  could  not  protect  himself  or  escape  the 
death  of  a  malefactor,"  interrupted  Julian. 

The  Empress  made  the  sign  of  the  cross.  "  Arc 
you,  also,  Prince,  dazzled  by  success  ?  Arc  you 
capable  of  appreciating  only  that  which  is  made 
known  by  fame  ?  Must  the  aureola  rest  upon  a 
head  that  you  may  honor  it  ?  Do  you  forget  your 
own  Plato's  definition  of  a  divine  man  ?  " 


PARTHENIA.  43 

"  I  remember  Plato's  definition  of  a  perfect  man, — 
6  one  who  is  the  servant  of  all.'  Noble  Princess  ! 
the  pride  of  your  Bishops  is  not  the  only  stumbling- 
block  to  my  belief.  The  discussions  of  your  Church 
appall  me.  Ah,  you  are  more  cruel  to  each  other 
than  the  Heathen  have  been  to  you.  Then  your  dif 
ferences  are  upon  subjects  so  open  to  ridicule,  that 
they  furnish  comedies  for  the  theatres  of  unbeliev 
ers." 

The  Empress  would  not  enter  upon  the  defence 
of  the  Church  in  this  particular,  with  so  keen  a  sat 
irist  as  Julian.  She  was  an  Arian  in  faith,  and  ab 
horred  persecution.  They  were  both  silent  for 
some  moments ;  at  length  Eusebia  said,  looking  ear 
nestly  at  the  young  Prince,  "  Julian,  I  have  placed 
precious  hopes  upon  you.  Educated  a  Christian, 
but  instructed  in  all  the  learning  and  philosophy 
of  antiquity,  I  hoped  that,  like  Paul,  you  would 
place  yourself  at  the  head  of  the  new  era  and  lead 
on  that  blessed  period,  promised  to  the  Church  and 
the  nations." 

Julian  laughed  that  scornful  laugh  which  so  dis 
torted  his  features  that  even  his  admirers  found  it 
hateful.  "  You  forget,  Princess,  your  Galilean  said, 
c  I  came  not  to  bring  peace,  but  a  sword.'  Certain 
ly  his  words  have  been  prophetic.  Look  at  your 
so-called  Church,  rent  into  a  hundred  fragments. 


44  PARTHENIA. 

See  bishops  and  deacons  grasping  the  portion  of 
widows  ;  virgin  orphans  sold  to  the  highest  bidder ; 
Ariaiis  torturing  Athanasians ;  Athanasians  piercing 
the  hearts  of  matrons  and  maidens ;  old  men  broken 
upon  the  wheel !  " 

The  Empress  would  not  answer,  but  went  on. 
"  How  glorious  would  it  be  for  a  young  Prince  like 
yourself  to  check  all  these  horrors ;  to  be  ablo  to 
understand  the  signs  of  the  times ;  to  see  that  the 
old  religion  is  utterly  powerless  to  cure  the  horrible 
disorders  and  crimes  of  the  age ;  that  it  is  like  a 
decayed  and  hollow  tree,  dead  and  rotten  at  the 
root,  but  here  and  there  showing  a  tuft  of  beauty 
at  the  extremities  of  the  branches,  as  you  refresh  it 
with  costly  wine,  and  heap  treasures  about  the  root : 
it  cannot  revive ;  it  must  fall  and  be  thrown  to  the 
furnace.  The  new  era  has  begun.  0  Julian !  you 
must  lead  it  on." 

"  Ah,  that  will  I,"  said  Julian,  his  eye  flashing 
and  his  whole  frame  expanding,  "but  with  the 
Olympian  Jupiter  as  fellow-leader;  with  Apollo 
and  his  virgin  sister,  with  the  divine  Pallas,  the 
celestial  Venus,  the  Loves,  the  Graces,  not  in  com 
pany  with  the  Galilean  and  his  fishermen  and  mag- 
dalens.  Yes,  Empress !  to  bring  back  that  age  of 
heroism  would  reward  the  ambition  of  a  God ;  — 
again  to  crown  the  temples  with  beauty,  and  to 


PARTHENIA.  45 

spread  over  the  rough  and  stony  paths  of  life  the 
green  and  flowing  veil  of  poetry ;  —  to  restore  the 
time  when  in  every  form  of  nature  we  saw  the  im 
press  of  a  God.  Gentle  beings,  the  friends  of  man, 
dwelt  in  every  thicket.  Juno  reposed  upon  the 
fleecy  clouds,  and  tender  doves  bore  invisibly  the 
car  of  Venus.  Lovely  naiads  poured  the  rivers 
from  their  urns,  or  sprang  from  the  silver  foam  of 
cascades.  The  brooks  were  swelled  by  the  tears 
of  Ceres,  as  she  wept  the  loss  of  her  beloved  daugh 
ter.  The  virgin  priestess  knelt  praying  at  the  altar 
of  the  Graces,  and  made  vows  for  others  to  all  the 
holy  Charities.'' 

"  Yes,'7  said  the  Empress,  "it  is  easy  thus  to  rep 
resent  the  faiiL^side  of  Heathenism ;  this  worship, 
for  I  cannot  call  it  a  religion,  is  beautiful  in  sub 
jects  for  art  and  for  the  poetry  of  Julian,  but  it  is 
powerless  and  worse  than  powerless  against  the 
wickedness  of  the  age." 

"  But  the  soul,  the  lire  of  genius !  they  are  not 
in  your  Christian  literature.  Where  is  the  im 
mortal  spirit  which  inspires  the  hymns  of  Pindar. 
Who  has  carved  the  dead  stone  into  the  godlike 
forms  of  Phidias  ?  " 

"  Prince !  you  are  a  stranger  to  the  inspired 
hymns  of  the  Hebrew  ?  " 

Julian  hurried  on,  as  was  his  custom,  without 


46  PARTHENIA. 

listening  to  the  Empress.  "Dearer  is  every  gift 
when  we  know  that  it  comes  from  the  bounty  of  a 
God.  How  lovely  is  the  pearl-covered  field  beneath 
the  bow  of  Iris ;  the  glow  of  morning  with  Aurora's 
saffron-colored  robe!  How  sweet  is  youth  in  the 
happy  features  of  Ganymede  and  Hebe  !  how  dear  to 
lovers  must  be  the  form  of  Hymen,  when  he  knits 
the  bond  of  love's  eternal  union !  Even  life's  ten 
der  thread  is  severed  by  the  hand  of  the  Parcse,  and 
the  genius  of  death,  as  he  extinguishes  his  torch, 
receives  the  last  sigh  with  a  kiss  ! "  * 

"  Ah  yes !  but  where  in  your  Elysium  is  found 
the  soul,  so  gently  borne  away.  There  only  arc 
your  heroes  and  sages.  There  is  no  place  there  for 
the  gentle  and  the  humble,  —  the  suffering  souls. 
The  mother  will  not  find  again  her  innocent  child. 
No  reward  is  promised  there  for  heroic  souls  en 
slaved  by  the  despots  of  earth.  But  in  the  Chris 
tian  Heaven,  all,  the  oppressed  and  the  humble,  the 
noble  souls  of  whom  the  world  was  not  worthy, 
shall  be  recognized  beneath  the  white  robes  of 
martyrdom." 

"  By  the  Gods,"  cried  Julian,  "  a  reason  for  not 
desiring  to  go  there !  Ah  no !  beloved  Empress ! 
keep  your  Christian  Heaven  for  priests  and  monks." 

The  Empress  rose,  and  checked  abruptly  the  sar- 

*  See  Schiller's  Ode. 


PARTHENIA.  47 

casm  slio  saw  upon  his  lips.  "  I  have  not  yet  made 
known  my  errand,  Prince,"  she  said.  "  Constan- 
tius  at  length  has  consented  to  grant  yon  leave  to 
pursue  your  favorite  studies  in  Greece,  in  your  be 
loved  Athens.  He  demands  only,  in  return,  that 
you  avoid  all  political  questions,  and  abstain  from 
all  expressions  of  opinion." 

"  Enough,  enough,  Empress !  It  is  all  I  desire ! 
Athens !  my  beloved  Athens !  the  eye,  the  heart 
of  the  world  !  Eternal  thanks,  noble  friend  !  It  is 
to  you  alone  I  owe  this  boon.  The  immortal  Gods 
reward  you  !  But  how  soon  am  I  permitted  to  de 
part  ? "  The  impetuosity  of  the  Prince  almost 
checked  the  current  of  his  words  as  they  rushed 
forth  to  express  his  gratitude. 

The  Empress  smiled.  "  Are  you  so  anxious  to 
leave  your  friends,  —  so  hastily,  without  a  word  of 
farewell  ?  " 

"  All  yes !  beloved  Empress !  add  one  more  fa 
vor.  Obtain  leave  for  mo,  that  I  may  go  unattend 
ed, —  that  I  may  journey  as  a  humble  individual, 
without  these  hated  guards,  without  these  disgrace 
ful  bonds!" 

"  For  such  a  boon  the  Emperor  demands  of  you 
eternal  silence ;  that  you  abstain  from  all  remark 
whatever  upon  his  actions,  past  or  present." 

"  Ah  yes !  I  understand  ;  oblivion  of  wrong,  for- 


48  PARTHENIA. 

getfulness  that  in  my  veins  alone  flows  the  blood 
that  should  be  beating  in  many  murdered  breasts." 

"Julian!"  cried  the  Empress,  "you  forget  that 
spies  are  all  around  you;  even  at  this  midnight 
hour  are  listeners." 

"Thanks,  thanks,  noble  friend!  but  the  ear  is 
not  curious  at  the  door  of  the  disgraced.  One  mof  e 
question.  Must  I  beg  an  audience  of  the  Emperor? 
humble  myself  before  his  sycophants,  his  trembling 
slaves,  the  company  of  his  pale  monks  ?  Must  the 
proud  Eusebius  witness  my  humiliation  ?  " 

"  I  think  the  Emperor  would  avoid  a  meeting 
while  the  memory  of  Gallus  is  fresh.  But  look 
towards  the  east.  Is  not  that  the  faint  gleam  of 
returning  day  ?  "  said  the  Empress. 

"  Ah  no !  it  is  but  the  northern  Aurora"  ;  and  as 
he  saw  the  Empress  turning  the  key  of  the  heavy 
door,  he  cried,  "  Minerva,  and  all  the  immortal 
Gods,  for  ever  bless  you !  " 

"  Rather  the  Almighty  and  his  Son !  "  said  Euse- 
bia,  as  she  made  the  sign  of  the  cross,  and  looked 
back  with  a  smile. 


49 


CHAPTER    VI. 

GEEECE. 

WHEN  Constantius  restored  to  Julian  the  fortune 
of  his  mother,  he  permitted  him  also  to  retain  in 
his  service  the  slave,  now  the  freed  man,  Mar- 
donius,  who  had  also  been  his  tutor,  and  Oribasius, 
his  faithful  and  long-attached  friend,  who  united 
the  offices  of  librarian  and  physician. 

The  Prince  now  stood,  together  with  Mardonius, 
upon  the  deck  of  one  of  those  deeply  laden  corn 
ships,  which  was  returning  from  Egypt  to  Athens, 
with  a  cargo  of  wheat.  They  had  embarked  in  a 
small  vessel  upon  the  river  Padus  or  Po,  and  cross 
ing,  at  its  whole  length,  the  Adriatic  Sea,  they  went 
to  one  of  the  ports  of  Crete,  where  they  met  and 
embarked  upon  the  larger  vessel,  it  having  stopped 
there  on  its  way  to  Athens.  They  were  now  draw 
ing  to  the  close  of  their  long  and  tedious  voyage. 

The  calm,  almost  waveless  JEgean  permitted  their 
heavy  craft  to  make  but  slow  progress.  Julian,  in 


50  PAETHENIA. 

his  simple  student's  dress,  remained  unrecognized,  as 
he  stood  conversing  in  a  low  voice  with  Mardonius, 
whose  venerable  appearance  attracted  far  more  at 
tention  than  the  Prince.  The  old  man's  high  and 
wrinkled  brow  subdued  the  expression  of  deeply 
piercing  Jewish  eyes,  while  wisdom  seemed  lurking 
behind  his  beard  and  gray  locks.  His  dress  was 
simple  and  elegant,  and  in  his  hand  he  bore  a 
small  lyre.  Among  other  accomplishments,  he 
had  taught  Julian  music,  a  science  of  which  the 
Prince  was  always  passionately  fond. 

"  How  poor  would  have  been  Constantius's  gift  to 
me  of  my  mother's  fortune,  if  he  had  not  enhanced 
it  by  the  gift  of  her  friend  !  "  said  Julian,  in  a  low 
voice. 

"The  fortune  was  yours  by  right,  my  Prince,  and 
the  friend  was  yours  by  the  act  and  will  of  that 
friend  himself,"  said  the  other. 

"  Ah  !  but  the  Emperor  might  have  withheld  from 
me,  as  from  Gallus,  that  treasure  more  precious 
than  all  the  others." 

"Basilina  —  " 

"  Ah  !  tell  me  of  my  mother.  I  was  too  young  to 
remember  aught  of  her,  except  two  large  mild  eyes 
always  turned  upon  me." 

"  "We  differed  only  in  this,  —  that  she  was  a 
Christian,  while  I  —  I  still  wait  for  the  coming 


PARTHENIA.  51 

of Jlie  Messiah!  Her  father  was  the  first  Roman 
Senator  who  publicly  professed  his  faith  in  the  new 
religion  ;  induced  to  the  act,  I  verily  believe,  by 
the  loveliness  of  its  fruits  in  his  own  daughters." 

A  dark  cloud  passed  over  the  face  of  the  Prince. 
He  trembled  as  ho  asked,  "  And  you  were  sought 
to  instruct  her  in  the  language  of  the  Jewish  Scrip 
tures  ?  " 

"  No ;  her  thirst  for  the  poetry  of  the  heroic  ages 
was  too  ardent.  Homer  and  the  Greek  poets  were 
her  daily  food ;  but  while  she  pursued  these  studies, 
she  retained  |ne  heart  of  an  angel  and  the  language 
of  a  seraph."; 

"Ah,  Mardonius!  I  sucked  with  my  mother's 
milk  my  love  of  Homer  and  Sophocles." 

"  That  was  not  all,  my  Prince.  How  often  did 
noble  words  fall  from  her  sweet  lips  !  *  Inspire 
my  son,'  she  said,  '  with  modesty  and  gentleness, 
with  contempt  for  sensual  and  trifling  pleasures. 
Let  pure  nobleness,  truth,  gentleness,  be  his  vir 
tues.  Let  him  love  a  retired  and  studious  life.' " 

"  Thanks,  thanks,  my  mother  !  "  cried  Julian. 

"But  with  your  vivid  imagination  and  ardent 
passions  I  was  afraid,  my  Prince,  of  inspiring  dis 
gust  rather  than  love,"  said  Mardonius. 

"  That  fear  was  vain  ;  my  passionjs  Jo.,  learn.  I 
do  not  readily  forget  what  has  once  made  an  im- 


52  PARTHENIA. 

pression.  I  learnt  to  lisp  the  noble  language  of  the 
poets  from  my  mother's  lips,  and  I  long  to  make 
those  poems  my  own.  Homer,  Pindar,  Sophocles, 
are  my  masters.  I  love  them  as  an  ardent  youth 
loves  his  mistress." 

Mardonius  smiled,  and,  from  the  instruction  he 
continued  to  give  him,  one  would  have  thought  that 
Julian  was  still  his  pupil,  had  not'  the  resolute  and 
manly  expression,  and  the  dark  eye  which  flashed 
with  intensity  from  beneath  the  thick  eyebrow, 
showed  that  the  Prince  could  be,  and  that  he  was, 
the  master  spirit.  They  stood  thus  in  the  mild 
air  of  the  summer  night,  till  the  first  flush  of  the 
crimson  dawn  began  to  break  over  the  -^Egean. 

It  was  reflected  in  the  almost  waveless  mirror  of 
the  deep  waters,  and  upon  the  projecting  headlands 
of  the  islands,  giving  them  the  appearance  of  vast 
flashing  gems,  rising  above  the  waters.  A  trans 
parent  curtain  of  vapor  was  just  lifted  as  the 
morning  breeze  curled  over  the  sea,  disclosing  the 
enchanting  landscapes  of  the  islands,  while  Hes 
perus,  the  morning  star,  large  and  calm,  the  single 
star  in  the  sky,  hung  like  a  brilliant  lamp  over  the 
whole  magnificent  scene. 

As  they  approached  Sunium, '  whose  promontory 
was  crowned  with  the  white  columns  of  the  temple 
of  Minerva,  the  vestibule  as  it  were  of  the  still  more 


PARTHENIA.  53 

crowded  temple  of  all  the  Gods,  which  would  open 
upon  him  in  Athens,  Julian's  check  glowed,  for 
these  Gods  would  not  be  to  him  merely  objects  of 
taste  and  admiration,  but  of  that  secret  faith  which 
he  in  his  soul  avowed.  He  was  silently  contrast 
ing  the  splendor  and  power  of  the  classic  mythology 
with  the  homely  and  despised  symbols  of  the  new 
faith,  —  the  manger  and  the  cross,  and,  between 
these,  the  humble  life,  the  obscure  and  unrewarded 
labor,  of  him  he  called  the  "  Galilean." 

As  the  breeze  freshened  and  filled  their  sails, 
and  their  ship  neared  the  coast,  Julian  saw  the 
central  rock  of  the  Acropolis,  round  which  Athens 
is  grouped,  crowned  with  its  immortal  temples  and 
the  colossal  statue  of  Pallas  Athena.  The  form 
and  color  of  this  rock,  surmounted  by  its  marble 
temples  beneath  the  transparent  sky  of  Greece, 
were  more  grand,  and  of  more  entrancing  beauty, 
than  anything  Julian  had  imagined.  He  began,  by 
its  silver  light,  to  trace  the  winding  course  of  the 
Ilissus,  and  to  perceive  upon  the  west  of  the  city 
the  olive  groves  of  Plato's  Academy.  The  moun 
tain  peaks  of  Hymettus  were  now  touched  with  a 
rosy  light,  and  at  last  the  goj.denjielinet  and  spear- 
top  of  the  Goddess,  as  she  stood  upon  the  Acropolis, 
flashed  back  the  beams  of  the  risen  sun.  Julian 
stood  entranced  by  so  much  beauty, 

5  * 


54  PARTHENIA. 

The  sun  was  high  when  they  entered  the  harbor 
of  the  Piraeus,  already  crowded  by  vessels  from 
every  port,  with  ships  of  war  and  ships  of  burden, 
the  latter  heavy  and  bulky  in  order  to  carry  great 
quantities  of  goods  ;  also,  square-rigged  vessels, 
loaded  with  wheat  from  Egypt.  The  little  pleasure- 
boats  of  the  Athenians  were  skimming  from  port 
to  port,  distinguished  by  their  sails  of  brilliant  dyes 
and  rowers  with  gay  liveries,  the  prows  bearing 
some  tutelary  Deities  of  gold  or  silver,  wreathed 
with  garlands  of  natural  flowers. 

Julian  landed  at  the  port  nearest  the  sepulchre 
of  Themistocles,  and,  as  he  desired  to  preserve  his 
incognito,  he  determined  to  walk,  accompanied  by 
Mardonius,  the  four  or  five  miles  that  led  from  the 
Piraeus  to  the  gate  of  Athens.  But,  said  he  to 
Mardonius,  "  I  cannot  proceed  till  I  have  entered 
these  temples  of  Zeus  and  Athena,  and  offered  my 
homage  to  the  glorious  Divinities,  more  worthy  of 
worship  than  anything  the  Piraeus  contains." 

"  More  worthy  than  the  Cnidian  Venus  ?  "  asked 
his  companion,  "  whose  temple  is  close  to  the  sea." 

"  Venus  is  no  Divinity  of  mine,  as  you  well 
know,"  said  the  Prince. 

"  The  Venus  to  whose  homage  I  would  direct 
you  is  not  the  Goddess  whose  worship  has  been 
perverted  into  sensual  delight,  but  she  who  is  the 


PARTHENIA.  55 

ideal  of  moral  beauty,  veiled  like  pure  love  and 
adorned  by  all  the  graces,"  said  Mardonius. 

Along  the  walls  of  the  Piraeus  were  colonnades 
of  marble,  and  also  the  tombs  of  the  great  men  of 
Attica,  their  poets  and  tragedians.  Julian,  the 
enthusiast,  could  not  pass  the  tomb  of  Menandcr, 
nor  the  empty  sepulchre  of  Euripides,  without  re 
peating  aloud  the  great  thoughts  and  the  inspired 
lines  with  which  his  memory  was  stored.  But  he 
soon  found  himself  involved  in  the  throng  and 
pressure  of  the  market-place,  the  great  bazaar, 
where  merchandise  of  every  species,  and  every 
production  of  the  known  world,  were  collected. 

Merchants  from  every  climate  here  met  travel 
lers  from  every  land  Here  were  crowded  taverns, 
inns,  wine-shops,  workshops  sending  forth  a  din  of 
metal,  and  mechanics  plying  their  craft  in  the 
open  air.  On  one  side  were  heaps  of  common 
pottery,  and,  not  far  from  them,  collections  of  vases 
of  exquisite  form,  of  varied  and  beautiful  designs. 
Shops  filled  with  costly  stuffs,  cloths  of  gold,  and 
the  Alexandrian  purple,  of  such  brilliancy  that  all 
other  colors  appeared  faded  by  its  side.  Here  were 
silks  and  spices  from  beyond  the  Euphrates,  heavy 
cargoes  of  marble,  innumerable  objects  of  art  of 
exquisite  beauty,  statues,  sculptures,  bassi  rilievi, 
ready  for  packing  in  order  to  be  sent  from  Athens, 


56  PARTHENIA. 

as  was  the  custom  in  the  fourth  century,  to  every 
part  of  the  known  world. 

Julian  and  his  companion  threaded  their  way 
through  the  crowded  streets  and  no  less  crowded 
colonnades  towards  the  Piraeniaii  gate.  The  Prince 
was  nervously  anxious  to  attract  no  attention ;  but 
the  quick-witted  Athenians  soon  discovered  that  lie 
was  a  stranger,  and  also  inferred  from  his  youth 
and  the  intellectual  expression  of  his  features  that 
he  was  a  Roman  and  a  student.  His  cloak  was 
often  plucked  from  behind,  which  was  the  usual 
fashion  of  attracting  attention,  and  cards  of  the 
various  sophists  and  teachers  of  the  schools  of 
philosophy  thrust  into  his  hands. 

They  diverged  to  the  right  towards  the  Phalerian 
road,  and  Julian  felt  that  he  was  indeed  in  Attica, 
the  country  of  the  Gods  and  of  beauty,  when  he  saw 
the  Ilissus  flowing  pure  and  transparent  in  its  rocky 
bed,  bordered  by  low  bushes  of  the  agnus  cactus,  its 
snowy  blossoms  filling  the  air  with  fragrance.  The 
grass  was  high  and  luxuriant,  and,  passing  from  the 
busy,  noisy  market,  there  was  a  quiet  summer  air 
brooding  over  the  country,  where  lovely  springs  of 
water  flowed,  and  the  song  of  the  cicada  was  heard. 
Julian  had  now  passed  the  gate  and  found  him 
self  in  the  labyrinth  of  temples,  monuments,  statues 
of  dazzling  marble,  of  ivory  and  gold,  the  represen- 


PARTHENIA.  57 

tations  of  Gods  and  heroes.  A  colonnade  of  marble 
IjxtenTtorct"  the  whole  way  from  the  gate  to  the  Cera- 
meicus,  where  throngs  of  people  walked  sheltered 
from  both  sun  and  rain.  Along  the  margin  of  this 
colonnade  were  small  altars  dedicated  to  various 
Divinities,  with  votive  offerings,  sometimes  of  great 
value  ;  busts  of  great  men,  poets,  philosophers ; 
beautiful  vases  ;  stones  exquisitely  cut ;  and  all 
adorned  with  the  freshest  flowers. 

"  What  a  refined  and  cultivated  people  must  , 
these  Athenians  be,"  said  the  Prince,  "  that  such 
exquisite  works  of  art  can  remain  from  year  to 
year  in  the  most  crowded  thoroughfare,  where 
thousands  pass  every  hour,  and  yet  never  incur 
the  smallest  injury." 

"  And  thousands  like  yonder  man,"  said  Mar- 
donius,  pointing  to  one  abject  in  appearance,  whoso 
few  rags  seemed  taking  leave  of  each  other,  "  capa 
ble  of  admiring  and  appreciating  tUGse~exquisito 
gems  without  possessing  an  obelus." 

"  These  fresh  flowers  also  remain  untouched,  not 
a  leaf  is  plucked,  not  a  blossom  allowed  to  wither. 
They  love  the  beautiful  in  nature  as  much  as  they 
admire  art." 

"  And  yet,"  said  Mardonius,  in  a  low  voice,  "  the 
people  of  this  city  are  corrupt,  dishonest,  avaricious, 
cruel.  It  proves  that  Heathenism,  though  it  admits 


58  PARTHENIA. 

the  highest  culture  of  the  intellect,  is  wholly  power 
less  against  the  vices  of  civilization." 

"  "With  all  their  restless  activity,  their  quick  per 
ceptions,  the  love  of  the  ludicrous,  as  well  as  of  the 
beautiful,  —  see  there, — there  is  their  temple  and 
their  altar  to  Pity.  Has  any  other  people  ever 
erected  an  altar  to  pity  ?  "  asked  Julian. 

"Their  altar  to  the  unknown  God  awakens  the 
hope  that  they  may  soon  learn  to  know  the  only 
God,  the  Jehovah  of  all  nations,"  said  Mardonius. 


CHAPTER    VII. 

ATHENS. 

THE  next  morning  Julian  awoke  in  Athens ;  his 
eye  sought  for  the  first  time  the  deep  blue  sky  of 
Greece,  and  his  eager  ear  drank  in  the  melody  of 
the  Attic  tongue.  He  left  to  Mardonius  the  care  of 
providing  a  dwelling,  commodious  for  himself  and 
servants,  and  hastened  out  to  breathe  the  air  of 
Athens,  taking  the  street  to  the  Cerameicus.  He 
would  first  pay  his  homage  to  the  tomb  of  Plato, 
whx>  was  buried  beneath  its  enclosure.  The  bell 
for  market  had  just  ceased  ringing,  and  his  way  led 
through  that  liveliest  of  all  scenes  in  the  very  hour 
of  its  greatest  activity.  The  traders  had  set  up 
their  stalls,  and  the  venders  were  crying  their 
wares.  Here  female  bakers  had  piled  up  their 
rolls ;  there  simmered  the  kettles  of  women  boiling 
peas  and  other  vegetables.  Piles  of  frail  crockery 
were  hard  by,  and  the  shrill  tongues  of  women,  vo 
ciferating  curses,  lost  their  Attic  grace,  when  the 


GO  PARTHENIA. 

frail  wares  and  the  slippery  rolls  were  thrown  to 
the  ground  together,  by  an  unlucky  passenger. 

Here  were  the  greatest  variety  of  dainty  fish, — fish 
was  the  greatest  luxury  of  the  table  of  the  Atheni 
ans, —  the  purest  oil,  transparent  as  ether;  fresh- 
made  cheeses;  fragrant  honey  from  the  bees  of 
Hymcttus.  A  little  way  farther  on  was  the  flower- 
market,  where  were  displayed,  all  fresh,  the  treasures 
of  Flora.  Young  women  and  old  stood  ready  to  re 
ceive  orders  for  flowers,  to  adorn  the  evening  feast. 
Here  were  garlands  for  the  heads  of  young  men 
and  old,  who  were  on  their  way  to  the  symposium; — 
for  in  Athens,  men,  even  more  than  women,  adorned 
themselves  with  flowers.  Here  were  the  freshest 
wreaths  for  the  altars  and  statues  of  the  Gods ; 
beautiful  garlands  for  the  domestic  altar,  and  for 
the  doors  of  houses  when  a  child  was  born  ;  —  fresh 
flowers  being  always  in  Athens  the  sign  of  rej^ic- 
ing.  Public  criers  crossed  every  moment,  crying 
the  sale  of  a  house,  or  of  a  slave,  or  the  loss  of  ar 
ticles  of  value.  In  another  part  of  the  market-place 
stood  cooks,  laborers,  slaves,  runners,  down  to  the 
lowest  menials,  waiting  to  be  hired  by  those  in 
want.  Julian  had  left  this  care  to  Mardonius,  and 
hastened  011  through  the  arcade  occupied  by  the 
money-changers.  Here  were  usurers  and  their  vic 
tims,  bankers  and  receivers  of  pledges.  On  their 


PARTHENIA.  61 

tables  beside  them  lay  tlieir  scales,  with  piles  of  sil 
ver  and  copper  money.  Crowds  had  already  col 
lected  around  them,  disputing  as  to  the  sums  and 
the  interest,  in  their  shrill  voices,  and  with  all  the 
gesticulation  of  Greek  vivacity.  Julian,  as  yet,  had 
nothing  to  do  with  these  affairs,  and,  hastening 
on,  passed  the  Cerameicus,  between  which  and  the 
garden  of  the  Academy  is  the  monument  to  Plato. 

Here  was  the  tomb  of  the  great  man  he  rever 
enced  above  all  others.  It  might  almost  be  said 
that  Plato  held  in  the  mind  of  Julian  the  place 
which  devoted  Christians  accord  to  their  Master. 
After  paying  the  tribute  of  his  devout  homage,  he 
followed  reluctantly  the  path  to  the  Lyceum  gar 
dens,  regretting  that  he  also  could  not  have  been 
fed  with  wisdom  from  the  lips  of  Plato. 

The  Ilissus  flowed  through  the  gardens  of  the 
Lyceum,  bordered  by  groves  of  plane-trees  and  filled 
with  thickets  of  the  agnus  cactus,  that  shrub  whose 
blossoms  are  so  white  and  fragrant.  Julian  threw 
himself  upon  the  grass  and  listened  to  the  musical 
flow  of  the  fountains,  following  with  his  eye  the 
winding  paths,  bordered  by  trees  and  flowers, 
among  which  the  nightingales  dwelt  unscared.  It 
was  not  the  hour  when  the  gardens  were  fullest, 
yet  there  were  many  graceful  Athenians  wearing 
their  robes  of  soft  white  wool,  bordered  with  stripes 


62  PARTHENIA. 

of  various  vivid  colors,  and  embroidered  with  gold 
en  grasshoppers,  to  indicate  that  they  were  the  na 
tive  Athenians,  descended  like  the  grasshopper  from 
its  sacred  soil  and  fed  by  its  dew. 

Crowds  were  hurrying  to  the  Gymnasium,  and 
thence  to  the  baths,  a  luxury  indispensable  to  the 
Greeks  as  well  as  the  Romans.  The  Gymnasium 
was  very  full.  In  the  arcades  surrounding  the 
peristyle  were  groups  of  men  of  all  ages,  discuss 
ing  animating  subjects,  gesticulating,  jesting,  and 
betting. 

The  grounds  for  exercise  were  so  full  that  there 
was  scarcely  room  for  the  foot-races,  the  wrestling, 
and  those  exercises  of  strength  which  were  stimu 
lated  by  the  loud  acclamations  of  spectators.  A 
dense  throng  had  gathered  around  a  pair  of  wrest 
lers  ;  but  a  weak  point  had  just  been  descried,  and 
one  of  them  came  to  the  ground  with  a  shout,  just 
as  the  ring  opened  for  Julian  to  pass  through. 

The  hour  for  the  Gymnasium  had  passed,  and 
now  all  who  had  taken  part,  the  spectators  also,  be 
gan  to  disperse,  and  to  rush  on  to  the  baths.  This 
was  a  luxury,  which,  together  with  the  practice  of 
anointing  the  limbs  with  pure  oil,  perfuming,  and 
dressing  the  hair,  demanded  much  time.  Julian  de 
spised  the  last  effeminacy,  but  the  bath  was  neces 
sary  for  the  healthful  action  of  mind  and  body  ;  he 


PARTHENIA.  63 

therefore  mingled  with  the  crowd  and  passed  on, 
noticed  only  as  a  young  man  of  noble  bearing  and 
a  stranger. 

Julian  returned  through  the  Agora.  The  market 
was  now  over,  and  he  could  observe  at  leisure  its 
precious  works  of  art.  Porticos  or  cloisters_pf  mar 
ble  surrounded  the  square,  and  these  were  adorned 
with  altars  and  fountains  and  statues  of  the  great 
men  of  Athens.  In  the  centre  was  the  altar  to  the 
twelve  gods,  which  was  to  Athens  what  the  golden 
mile-stone  was  to  Rome,  as  from  it  all  distances 
were  counted  to  the  extremities  of  the  land.  Here, 
also,  was  that  unique  altar  to  Pity,  the  Athenians 
being  the  only  people  who  recognized  the  divinity 
of  that  holiest  emotion,  and  built  an  altar  for  its 
worship. 

When  Julian  returned  from  the  bath,  he  found 
his  apartments,  under  the  care  of  Mardonius,  already 
arranged  for  him.  The  private  houses  of  the  Athe 
nians  were  never  large,  and  as  he  needed  no  sec 
ond  suite  for  women,  Julian's  consisted  of  a  single 
house,  with  apartments  for  himself  and  his  friends. 
Mardonius  had  arranged  the  house,  in  as  far  as  a 
temporary  residence  would  allow  him  to  do,  in  ref 
erence  to  the  retirement,  quietness,  and  earnest 
study  so  dear  to  his  master.  Between  it  and  the 
street  was  a  small  court  filled  with  trees  and  flow- 


64  PARTHENIA. 

ering  shrubs.  This  court  removed  the  peristyle, 
the  common-  entrance  to  Grecian  houses,  from  the 
noise  and  bustle  of  the  street,  and  gave  it  almost  the 
retirement  of  the  country.  Around  three  sides  of 
the  peristyle  ran  a  double  arcade  of  Doric  col 
umns,  furnished  with  seats  and  couches  and  intend 
ed  for  walking  or  for  refreshment  in  the  open  air. 
In  the  centre  a  fountain  threw  a  perpetual  shower 
of  diamond  drops  into  the  air,  and  soothed  with  its 
musical  sound,  or  led  to  contemplation  by  its  mur 
mured  flow.  A  border  of  moss  was  kept  of  an  em 
erald  green  by  the  perpetual  spray  of  the  fountain, 
and  beyond  this  moss  were  narrow  beds  of  flowers, 
carefully  watered  and  weeded,  and  renewed  as  soon 
as  they  faded.  On  the  right  hand  of  the  entrance 
was  an  exquisite  Apollo,  uniting  "  the  ideal  of  youth 
ful  beauty  with  the  ideal  of  manly  strength,"  and 
on  the  left,  Julian's  tutelary  goddess,  Minerva,  his 
celestial  protectress,  to  whom  he  constantly  looked 
for  counsel,  and  whose  eyes  cast  down  seemed  ever 
to  regard  him  with  favor.  These  statues,  from  the 
chisel  of  Polycletus,  were  exquisite  works  of  art, 
and  scarcely  inferior  to  any  in  the  Grecian  temples. 
On  the  fourth  side  was  a  recess  leading  into  the  li 
brary  ;  before  the  door,  or  rather  before  the  purple 
curtain  which  served  the  purpose  of  a  door,  stood 
an  altar  to  Helios,  upon  which  incense  was  perpet- 


PARTHENIA.  65 

ually  burning,  and  where  Julian  daily  offered  his 
prayers. 

This  precious  room,  the  library  or  study,  opened 
directly  behind  the  altar  to  Helios,  so  that  when  the 
Prince  was  reading  or  writing,  he  had  only  to  draw 
aside  the  curtain,  to  know  that  the  incense  was 
burning ;  to  add  more,  or  fresh  flowers  to  the  altar. 
Julian's  passion  for  the  works  of  the  poets,  philos 
ophers,  and  tragedians,  in  short,  for  all  works  of 
genius,  has  often  been  mentioned.  In  procuring 
them  he  spared  neither  expense  nor  trouble,  and 
perhaps  it  was  the  only  thing,  except  in  generosity 
to  his  friends,  in  which  he  was  really  lavish  of  his 
money. 

Broad  shelves  ran  all  around  the  room,  lighted 
from  the  top,  upon  which  were  deposited  the  pre 
cious  rolls  of  parchment,  each  in  its  scrinium  or  case. 
The  titles  of  the  books  were  suspended  in  ornamen 
tal  tablets  from  the  outward  end,  or  engraved  on  the 
outside.  An  ancient  library  must  have  presented  a 
very  different  appearance  from  one  of  modern  days ; 
but  beside  the  books,  tablets  of  various  sizes  cov 
ered  with  a  thin  coating  of  wax  were  everywhere 
lying  around,  that  Julian  might  have  every  facility 
for  writing  his  thoughts  as  they  occurred. 

The  most  precious  part  of  this  room  has  not  been 
mentioned.  This  was  the  portion  near  the  hearth, 

6* 


66  PARTHENIA. 

emphatically  the  sacred  sanctuary  of  home  in  every 
Grecian  house,  where  the  Lares  and  Penates  had 
their  place.  These  were  usually  small  statues  of 
guardian  deities,  or  images  of  honored  ancestors 
or  of  departed  friends,  cherished  with  the  utmost 
reverence,  and  regarded  as  the  guardian  angels  of 
the  family.  In  this  sanctuary  of  Julian,  they  were 
'  small  images  in  gold  and  ivory  of  his  favorite  di 
vinities,  to  whom  he  addressed  his  daily  and  hourly 
private  devotions,  and  sought  their  direction  in 
every  hour  of  his  occupation,  and  in  every  change 
of  his  life.  Fresh  flowers  were  renewed  upon  their 
shrines  every  morning,  and  when  their  sweetness 
was  a  little  exhaled,  perfumes  were  added  to  imi 
tate  their  sweetest  odors. 

All  through  the  midnight  hours  Julian's  lamp, 
suspended  above  his  writing-table,  was  fed  with  oil 
by  a  slave  who  remained  awake  for  the  purpose, 
and  as  the  clepsydra,  or  water-clock,  ran  out, 
through  the  slow  hours  of  night,  his  ardor  in  study 
increased,  till  the  first  ray  of  eastern  light,  striking 
upon  the  awning  suspended  over  his  roof,  threw 
a  crimson  flush,  which  paled  the  midnight  lamps 
upon  his  table ;  then  he  cast  himself  upon  his 
couch  for  a  few  hours  of  sleep. 


67 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

THE  LECTURES. 

JULIAN'S  sleeping-room  was  lighted  only  through 
the  adjoining  library ;  it  had  admitted  therefore  but 
a  faint  and  doubtful  light  when  Mardonius  drew 
aside  the  curtain,  and  the  Prince  asked  him  what 
was  the  hour. 

"  The  gnomon  casts  a  shadow  almost  to  the  ex 
tremity  of  its  length,"  said  Mardonius. 

"  The  sun  then  is  not  very  high,  and  I  am  not 
too  late  to  choose  my  teachers  before  the  lectures 
begin." 

Gregory  of  Nazianzen,  who  was  a  student  in 
Athens  at  the  time  when  Julian  was  also  a  student 
there,  says :  "  Every  sophist  in  Athens  had  his 
own  school  and  party,  who  were  devoted  to  him 
with  incredible  zeal,  while  there  prevailed  in  the 
young  students  a  complete  sophistic  furor.  They 
canvassed  and  struggled  for  their  masters;  and  it 
was  not  the  custom  to  attend  different  lectures  at 


68  PAETHENIA. 

the  same  time,  but  each  one,  as  a  rule,  attached 
himself  to  one  master.  The  poorer  students  lent 
themselves  to  the  business  of  recruiting,  and  thus 
got  exemption  from  class  payment.  An  ingenuous 
youth  could  scarcely  set  his  foot  upon  Attic  ground 
without  being  claimed  as  an  adherent  of  a  party. 
They  wrangled,  they  struggled,  they  threw  them 
selves  upon  him,  and  it  might  easily  happen  that  a 
young  man  was  drawn  quite  away  from  the  very 
teacher  he  had  come  expressly  to  attend." 

Julian  had  been  informed  of  these  strange  cus 
toms  of  the  students,  and  prepared  himself  for  a 
struggle.  At  the  same  time  he  put  on  the  simple 
dress  of  a  private  Roman  citizen,  in  order  to  slip 
quietly  along,  and  attract  as  little  attention  as 
possible.  He  bade  Mardonius  follow  him,  and, 
taking  the  street  which  led  to  the  Academy,  he 
found  it  easy,  without  being  observed,  to  mingle 
with  the  crowd  already  pressing  on  to  the  same 
quarter. 

How  seductive  were  the  lectures  of  the  sophists 
to  the  youth  of  this  age,  presented  as  they  were 
in  the  attractive  garb  of  poetry  and  philosophy, 
especially  those  of  Proharaesius,  to  whom  Rome 
erected  a  silver  statue  as  large  as  life,  — "  The 
queen  of  cities  to  the  king  of  orators."  The  old 
myths,  expounded  and  idealized,  were  wreathed 


PAETHENIA.  69 

with  the  flowers  of  eloquence,  while  around,  on 
the  heights'  tinti  in  the  valleys,  stood  the  serene 
temples  of  the  Gods,  where  their  eternal  youth 
or  perfect  manhood  was  consecrated  by  exquisite 
art,  adorned  by  the  profuse  gifts  of  nature  in 
groves,  flowers,  and  perfumes,  like  incense.  It 
was  easy  to  be  a  Heathen  here.  It  was  not  easy 
to  continue  a  Christian,  and  many  who  came  as 
Christian  youth  were  seduced  to  embrace  again 
the  old  faith. 

As  soon  as  it  was  perceived  that  Julian  was  a 
stranger,  a  hundred  hands  were  thrust  out  and  a 
hundred  programmes  of  lectures  were  pressed  upon 
him.  He  knew  that  any  inquiry  as  to  the  audience- 
benches,  or  even  the  locality  of  any  lecture  he 
wished  to  hear,  would  be  answered  by  a  practical 
joke,  or  an  epigram,  putting  him  completely  in 
the  wrong.  He  therefore  allowed  himself  to  be 
borne  passively  on,  while  Greeks,  Armenians,  Cap- 
padocians,  lonians,  Asiatics,  even  Jews  from  Pales 
tine,  vociferated,  struggled,  and  contended  for  him. 
These  young  men  were  full  of  exuberant  spirits, 
and  ready  for  every  practical  joke  within  the  limits 
of  that  generosity  which  belonged  to  their  age. 

In  the  midst  of  the  Babel  of  tongues,  one  cried 
out  in  Greek,  "  By  Pallas  Athena,  here  is  your 
place  with  the  sons  of  Attica."  Another  cried, 


70  PARTHENIA. 

"  Ycnus  and  the  Graces  forgive  yon!  he  is  a  Syrian, 
or  I  am  a  Jew."  This  was  followed  by  a  shout ; 
and  another  cried  out,  "  Vulcan  was  by  at  the 
making  of  those  broad  shoulders."  "  By  all  the 
Gods,"  shouted  another,  "  I  espy  on  his  face  the 
owl  of  Minerva."  "  Old  father  Time  has  lent  him 
his  forelock  for  a  beard,"  said  one.  "  His  father 
was  a  vender  of  old  clothes,"  said  another,  "  and 
left  him  his  trading  stock."  "  Venus  save  us  !  you 
may  see  by  his  beard  that  he  belongs  to  the  chil 
dren  of  Israel,"  shouted  one  of  them. 

Julian  now  said  aloud,  that,  if  the  gentlemen 
would  permit  him  to  proceed,  he  wished  to  listen 
to  a  lecture  of  Proharaesius.  This  was  received  by 
cheers  and  clapping  of  hands  from  one  party,  and 
by  hisses  and  groans  from  the  other.  The  crowd 
became  every  moment  more  dense,  and  Julian  was 
pressed  upon  every  side,  and  nearly  taken  off  his 
feet ;  voices  were  rising  higher  and  higher,  and  the 
throng  continually  augmenting,  and  as  none  of  the 
lecturers  had  yet  appeared,  Mardonius  pressed 
nearer,  in  order  that,  if  the  Prince  should  be 
borne  down,  he  might  be  able  to  assist  him.  This 
was  perceived,  and  immediately  greeted  with  loud 
hisses,  and  one  cried  out,  "  Make  room  for  the  dry 
nurse  of  the  young  giant."  Another  said,  "  Make 
room  for  the  mummy  from  the  Catacombs." 


PARTHENIA.  71 

The  Prince  had  hitherto  merely  indicated  the 
lecture  he  wished  to  hear  ;  but  at  this  crisis  he 
raised  his  voice  and  said,  "  Gentlemen,  I  am  a 
Roman  from  the  city  of  Constantino,  and  I  wish 
to  be  permitted  to  join  your  noble  company  in 
listening  to  your  most  eloquent  sophists."  A 
tremendous  shout  of  applause  followed,  and  the 
various  parties  cried  out,  some  one  name,  and 
some  another ;  and  as  they  did  so,  some  of  them 
were  received  with  clapping  of  hands,  others  with 
hisses,  and  one  or  two  with  execrations. 

The  tumult  was  now  at  its  height.  Julian's 
cloak  was  leaving  him  in  shreds,  when  at  this 
moment  two  persons  entered  the  grove  of  the 
Academy  arm  in  arm,  upon  whose  countenances 
were  impressed  the  serenity  and  sweetness  which 
come  from  inward  peace.  These  were  two  Chris 
tian  students,  who  were  afterwards  celebrated  in 
the  Church  and  canonized  as  saints,  —  St.  Basil 
and  St.  Gregory  of  Nazianzen.  They  were  pur 
suing  their  studies  in  the  midst  of  the  seductions 
of  Athens,  and  though  one  of  them  became  after 
wards  the  bitter  enemy  of  Julian,  they  now  met 
him  with  the  frankness  and  generosity  which  be 
long  to  the  ingenuous  period  of  youth.  Gregory 
had  studied  with  the  Prince  in  Constantinople, 
and  instantly  knew  his  person.  His  noble  bearing 


72  PARTHENIA. 

and  flashing  eye  could  not  be  mistaken,  although 
he  was  somewhat  changed  by  the  unfashionable 
appendage  of  a  thick  curling  beard. 

Gregory  whispered  Julian's  name  to  Basil,  and 
he,  perceiving  how  hard  the  Prince  was  pressed  by 
the  differing  fraternities  of  students,  cried  in  a  loud 
voice,  "  Make  way,  gentlemen,  for  Prince  Julian, 
the  cousin  and  heir  of  the  Emperor !  "  There  was 
an  instant  of  deep  silence,  and  then  all  broke  out 
with  a  shout  of  welcome,  a  huzza  of  triumph. 

Immediately  the  fraternity  of  students  calling 
themselves  Romans,  including  those  from  Koine 
and  Constantinople,  gathered  around  the  Prince, 
insisting  that,  according  to  invariable  custom,  he 
belonged  to  them,  and  must  be  their  guest  for  the 
day.  They  formed  themselves  into  a  procession, 
two  and  two,  with  Julian  in  the  midst,  and 
marched  through  the  olive  groves  of  the  Lyceum 
to  the  door  of  the  public  baths.  Here  they  halted, 
and  those  in  front  raised  a  wild  cry  as  though  they 
were  refused  admittance,  then  threw  themselves 
upon  the  doors,  broke  them  down,  and  forced  an 
entrance.  Julian  remained  perfectly  quiet ;  he  had 
heard  of  this  custom,  and  knew  that  it  was  done 
in  order  to  frighten  the  novice.  The  candidate  is 
afterwards  initiated  with  ludicrous  ceremonies,  and 
subsequently  received  in  the  most  friendly  manner, 


PAETHENIA.  78 

as  one  who  is  now  their  equal,  and  invested  with  all 
their  privileges.  Still  the  day,  or  rather  the  night, 
was  not  over.  Julian  belonged  to  them  for  the 
supper,  or  principal  meal  of  the  Greeks.  This  was 
taken  ahout  sundown,  and  consisted  of  various 
courses,  the  description  of  which  shall  be  left  to 
another  chapter. 


74 


CHAPTER    IX, 

THE  SYMPOSIUM. 

THE  supper  given  "by  the  young  man  to  honor 
Julian's  introduction  into  their  fraternity  was 
prepared  in  the  house  of  a  wealthy  student,  the 
son  of  a  Roman  family  which  had  long  been  resi 
dent  in  Athens.  Ctesiphon,  the  young  man,  about 
the  age  of  his  guest,  had  put  in  requisition  all  his 
zeal  to  give  the  Prince  a  sumptuous  repast.  Since 
noon  the  slaves  had  been  busily  employed  preparing 
for  the  ccena.  The  rooms  had  been  hung  with 
fresh  garlands  of  exquisite  taste ;  fresh  perfumes 
had  been  scattered  and  fresh  incense  upon  the 
shrines,  while  the  curtains  drawn  back  from  the; 
door  opened  a  view  of  the  fountain  in  the  atrium/ 
sending  forth  a  perpetual  shower  of  diamond  drops, 
whose  sound  was  both  enlivening  and  soothing. 

The  gnomon  cast  a  long  shadow  towards  the  east, 
when  the  young  men  entered  the  triclinium,  or 
dining-hall.  Three  couches  were  placed  at  three 


PARTHENIA.  75 

sides  of  a  sumptuous  table  of  carved  ivory.  The 
seats  were  decked  with  embroidered  hangings,  while 
the  cushions  upon  which  the  guests  reclined  were 
covered  with  purple  silk.  Each  couch  admitted 
three  persons  in  a  reclining  posture,  and  each  was 
furnished  with  a  silken  cushion  upon  which  to  rest 
the  left  elbow,  while  the  right  hand  remained  free. 
The  poetical  Greeks  proscribed  the  number  of  their 
guests  to  the  number  of  the  Muses,  and  the  instinct 
of  courtesy  gave  the  place  of  honor  next  the 
master  of  the  house  to  the  stranger,  while  upon 
ordinary  occasions  the  one  most  loved  reclined 
upon  his  breast. 

Julian,  in  his  most  festive  garment,  which  was 
plainer,  and  not  in  such  exquisite  taste  as  the 
Athenians',  had  joined  Gregory  and  Basil  as  they 
entered  the  atrium.  Slaves  met  them  bringing 
silver  basins  with  beautifully  formed  ewers  of  the 
same  metal.  They  unfastened  the  thongs  of  their 
sandals,  and,  taking  them  off,  poured  over  their  feet 
water  mixed  with  golden  wine ;  after  drying  them 
they  were  anointed  with  fragrant  balsam,  which 
filled  the  room  with  its  exquisite  odor,  and  then 
there  were  placed  upon  their  feet  soft  embroidered 
slippers. 

The  brow  of  each  guest  was  now  wreathed  with  a 
garland  of  fresh  green  leaves,  and  the  first  course 


76  PARTHENIA. 

was  placed  silently  upon  the  table,  while  delicate 
bread  of  the  finest  quality  was  handed  round  in 
tiny  baskets  formed  of  ivory.  Amid  gossip,  and 
gay  laughter,  and  witty  conceits,  the  principal 
meal,  that  which  satisfied  hunger,  was  brought  to  a 
close.  At  a  sign  from  the  master,  slaves  brought 
perfumed  water  for  the  hands,  while  others  bore  off 
the  viands,  and  swept  up  all  the  crumbs. 

Fresh  garlands,  woven  of  myrtle  and  roses,  were 
now  brought  in,  tied  with  ribbons  of  various  colors. 
While  the  guests  were  placing  their  garlands,  two 
beautiful  children,  flute  girls,  entered  the  room 
with  flutes.  These  children  had  light,  transparent, 
but  perfectly  imitated  wings,  attached  to  their 
shoulders  and  ankles.  Butterflies  of  silver  and 
precious  stones  were  worn  upon  their  foreheads, 
and  wreaths  of  fresh  flowers  were  so  entwined,  as 
to  bind  them  together  in  graceful,  fanciful  forms. 

No  wine  had  yet  been  tasted,  but  now  a  slave 
came  forward  with  a  golden  bowl  and  pitcher  of 
beautiful  shape.  Ctesiphon,  pouring  from  it  un 
diluted  wine,  raised  it  on  high,  and  cried  aloud, 
"  To  the  good  Gods ! "  then,  casting  a  few  drops 
on  the  ground,  he  handed  the  bowl  to  Julian,  who 
reclined  upon  his  right  hand,  in  order  to  pass  it 
around  the  table.  The  flute  girls  accompanied 
this  ceremony  with  solemn  and  subdued  tones  of 


PARTHENIA.  77 

exquisite  melody,  until  the  last  guest  had  returned 
the  cup,  when  they  ended  with  a  hymn  of  praise  to 
all  the  Gods. 

Meantime  it  had  been  silently  observed  by  most 
of  the  guests,  that  neither  Basil  nor  Gregory  had 
tasted  the  cup  of  libation,  and  that  they  had  fur 
tively  made  the  sign  of  the  cross  as  it  passed. 
Christianity  was  now  the  religion  of  the  Empire, 
and  although  there  were  few  Christians  in  Athens, 
the  very  centre  of  the  most  gorgeous  Heathenism, 
the  place  where  the  Gods  received  unimpaired 
reverence,  the  avowal  of  Christianity  subjected 
one  to  no  feeling  stronger  than  contempt,  and  no 
persecution  more  afflicting  than  ridicule.  These 
Christians  silently  declining  the  libation  occasioned 
only  a  slight  lifting  of  the  eyebrows  of  their  host, 
and  a  slight  curl  of  the  lip  of  Julian. 

Beautiful  boys,  in  close-fitting  tunics,  wreathed 
with  vine-leaves  and  crowned  with  roses,  now 
brought  in  goblets  of  gold  and  silver,  and  a  large 
vessel  filled  with  water,  called  a  crater,  through 
the  centre  of  which  ran  a  cylinder  filled  with 
glowing  coals  in  order  to  keep  the  water  boiling ; 
another  vase  of  elegant  form  was  filled  with  snow. 
The  amphoras  of  wine,  still  uncorked,  were  placed 
before  Ctesiphon,  and  slaves  under  his  direction 
proceeded  to  extract  the  corks.  This  ceremony 


78  PAETHENIA . 

was  performed  to  the  sound  of  measured  music  by 
the  flute  girls. 

As  soon  as  this  was  done,  Ctesiphon  cried, 
"  Gentlemen,  what  shall  be  the  rule,  three  or  five  ?  " 
at  which  there  was  a  clamor  of  voices,  some  crying 
"  Three,"  others  "  Five." 

"  The  wine  is  old  Chian  and  very  potent,"  said 
Ctesiphon,  looking  at  Julian. 

"If  I  am  permitted  to  choose,"  said  the  Prince, 
"  my  voice  is  for  live  parts  water  to  two  of 
wine." 

Applause  followed,  but  it  was  not  hearty,  as  some 
of  the  guests  wished  for  a  carouse. 

There  was  now  a  conflict  of  voices  which  lasted 
for  some  time ;  but  Julian  observed  that  Basil  and 
Gregory  remained  silent.  At  length  one  of  the 
company  said,  "  To  settle  the  rule  of  drinking  to 
night  we  must  choose  an  archon." 

"  Yes,  by  Jove !  we  must  have  an  archon,"  said 
another. 

"  No,  by  the  grapes  of  Bacchus,"  cried  one  of 
the  company,  "  liberty  for  me.  Let  us  have  no 
archon." 

"  0,  but  Minerva  forbid !  without  an  archon  we 
shall  all  go  reeling  home." 

"  The  dice,  the  dice !  Let  us  decide  by  the 
dice!  "  interposed  one  of  the  company. 


PARTHENIA.  79 

The  dice  were  brought.  The  throw  was  in  favor 
of  an  archon,  and  after  seven  casts  of  the  dice,  the 
lot  fell  upon  a  young  man  of  modest  appearance, 
from  Ionia,  as  arclion.  of  the  evening. 

Theoncn,  the  arclion,  then  proceeded  to  mix  the 
wine,  three  parts  water  to  two  of  wine,  to  which 
snow  was  added  as  it  was  poured  into  small  cups  ; 
a  larger  goblet  being  provided  in  case  any  guest 
should  be  compelled  to  drink  fines.  Fresh  chaplets 
were  now  brought  in,  of  dark-green  ivy-leaves,  with 
fresh-blooming  roses. 

"  The  ornament  of  winter  for  me,"  said  Julian, 
as  he  placed  an  ivy  wreath  upon  his  thick  curling 
locks.  Some  of  the  other  guests  imitated  the 
Prince,  saying,  "  We  will  leave  the  roses  to  the 
fairer  roses,  the  women." 

The  young  men  now  began  to  pledge  each  other 
in  full  cups,  and  afterwards  to  celebrate  or  rather 
pay  secret  homage  to  the  ladies  of  their  love, 
by  drinking  the  number  of  cyatha,  or  measures, 
according  to  the  number  of  letters  which  comprised 
their  names. 

"  I  drink  four  cups  to  the  goddess  of  my  idol 
atry,"  said  a  young  Athenian,  holding  out  a  golden 
cup  for  the  first  measure. 

"  I  always  choose  a  mistress  with  the  longest 
name,"  said  another ;  "  one  that  shall  reach  from 


80  PARTHENIA. 

the  altar  of  the  twelve  gods  to  the  land  of  the  be 
nighted  Britons." 

"  How  honest  must  be  your  homage ! "  they  cried. 

The  name  was  sometimes  guessed  by  the  others, 
but  it  was  considered  unmannerly  to  pronounce  the 
loved  name  aloud. 

Ctesiphon  cried,  "  Nine  cups  to  her  whom  all 
Athenians  reverence." 

Another  said,  "  That  name  is  too  pure  for  our 
cups  and  too  long,  —  and,  Ctesiphon,  are  we  to 
have  no  amusement  but  drinking  ?  Do  you 
honor  no  god  but  Dionysos  ?  " 

"  Terpsichore  and  all  the  Graces  forbid !  "  he 
cried,  and  gave  a  hint  to  one  of  the  slaves  in 
attendance. 

The  slave  admitted  two  grown-up  children,  a  boy 
and  girl,  whose  graceful  forms  and  agile  movements 
indicated  at  once  the  purpose  for  which  they  were 
introduced.  They  were  dressed  in  short  rose- 
colored  tunics  reaching  to  the  knees,  and  wore 
wreaths  of  flowers,  the  end  of  which  they  held  in 
their  hands.  They  began  a  dance  to  the  flutes' 
softest  melody,  which  was  full  of  grace  and  expres 
sion.  This  dance  did  not  consist  of  mere  senseless 
evolutions  ;  it  was  the  outward  expression  of  an 
inward  sentiment ;  it  was  poetry  expressed  by 
motion,  in  which  all  the  limbs,  the  arms,  the 


PARTHENIA.  81 

hands,  took  their  part.  Now,  the  flowers  were 
thrown  above  their  heads  and  towards  the  guests  ; 
then,  again,  they  were  wreathed  about  the  dancers ; 
then,  both  were  enclosed  gracefully  in  the  folds  of 
the  flowers.  This  being  ended,  hoops  covered  with 
flowers  were  introduced,  and  the  girl  whirled  them 
into  the  air  and  caught  them  again  with  quickest 
dexterity,  dancing  all  the  while  and  keeping  meas 
ured  step  to  the  sound  of  the  lute  and  cithara, 
which  the  boy  struck  from  time  to  time. 

The  young  men  applauded  and  clapped  their 
hands  at  every  feat  of  dexterity,  till  their  enthu 
siasm  increased  so  greatly  that  flowers,  rings,  and 
trinkets  of  value  were  showered  upon  the  happy 
girl. 

Now  was  introduced  a  dance  which  excited 
almost  a  fearful  interest.  Sharp-pointed  blades  of 
knives  were  inserted  in  symmetrical  order  into  the 
floor,  and  these  children  performed  an  intricate 
dance  in  the  midst,  with  most  rapid  precision, 
passing  between  the  sharp  blades,  making  the 
most  graceful  evolutions,  without  touching  hand 
or  foot,  or  receiving  a  single  scratch. 

The  most  fastidious  could  have  objected  little  to 
these  dances,  which,  out  of  respect  to  Julian's  well- 
known  purity  of  taste,  had  been  selected  by  Ctesi- 
phon  as  the  most  chaste.  These  entertainments, 


82  PAETHENIA. 

however,  freqiiently  more  than  bordered  on  the 
licentious,  and  were  abhorrent  to  Christians. 

It  was  observed  that,  as  soon  as  the  dancers  were 
introduced,  Basil  and  Gregory  silently  withdrew, 
and,  calling  for  their  sandals,  left  the  house. 

"  Ah,"  said  Julian,  "  your  Galileans  have  gone 
to  fast  and  pray  elsewhere  for  our  conversion." 

"  No,"  said  one  of  the  youngest  guests,  "  they 
have  left  us  to  finish  their  supper  on  a  young  and 
tender  child." 

Julian,  although  he  hated  the  Christians,  was 
always  just,  and  would  not  allow  that  which  he 
knew  to  be  false  to  pass  unopposed.  He  saw  that 
the  young  Greek  ingenuously  believed  what  he  had 
asserted,  and,  looking  at  him,  he  said,  "  That,  my 
young  friend,  is  a  calumny  invented  by  their 
enemies ;  a  Christian  would  no  sooner  hurt  a  child 
than  would  a  woman ;  on  the  contrary,  they  are 
extremely  tender  to  young  children." 

"  Yes,"  cried  another, —  "Venus,  whose  worship 
they  abhor,  forgive  them  for  it !  —  they  are  also 
very  loving  to  women." 

"  Ah  yes  !  "  said  Ctesiphon,  "  if  they  are  not 
slandered  in  this  also,  it  is  said  they  have  re 
vived  the  old,  exploded  dogma,  that  women  have 
souls." 

"  By   Jupiter,"    said    another,    "  they  not  only 


PARTHENIA.  83 

assert  that  women  have   souls,  but  that  all  men 
are  brethren." 

"  And  that  our  slaves  are  men  !  "  shouted  an 
other,  "  ergo  our  brethren."  This  was  answered 
with  a  scornful  laugh  of  utter  incredulity. 

"  What  they  call  the  Church  of  the  Nazarenes  is 
the  Olympus  of  old  women,  of  the  cripple,  of  the 
leper,  —  even  the  hetaeras  have  a  place  there." 

"  Congenial  company  for  the  celestial  Goddesses  1 " 
was  said  in  an  aside. 

"  This  feigned  adherence  of  the  Emperor  to  the 
new  superstition,"  said  a  young  man  from  Rome, 
"  has  spoiled  our  best  sports ;  we  are  no  longer 
allowed  a  Christian  or  two  to  throw  to  the  wild 
beasts  in  the  arena." 

"  By  Jupiter,"  said  another  from  the  same  city, 
"  a  giant  gladiator  is  far  less  exciting,  or  even 
amusing,  than  a  beautiful  young  Christian  maiden, 
contending  with  a  ferocious  lion." 

The  refined  Athenians  turned  slightly  pale,  and 
Julian,  dreading  to  hear  a  repetition  of  the  horrors 
of  the  arena,  cried  out,  "  Enough !  it  is  enough 
that  they  refuse  to  worship  the  immortal  Gods  ! 
Let  them  pass !  " 

The  conversation  took  again  a  light  and  graceful 
turn ;  and  the  Athenians  sat  late  into  the  night. 
Julian  had  been  longing  for  the  quiet  of  his  study 


84  PARTHENIA. 

and  his  books,  and  he  now  called  for  his  sandals. 
This  was  a  signal  for  the  others  to  retire  ;  all  except 
two  or  three  friends,  who  sat  with  Ctesiphon  over 
the  dice  and  wine,  until  the  morning  light  shone 
upon  the  faded  wreaths  on  their  brows. 


85 


CHAPTER   X. 

THE    ACROPOLIS. 

THE  Athenian  awoke  every  morning  to  that  glo 
rious  combination  of  art  and  nature,  in  transcend 
ent  beauty,  which  was  spread  out  before  him ;  how 
much  more  enchanting  was  it  to  Julian,  to  whom 
it  was  all  new !  He  had  not  yet  ascended  the  Acrop 
olis,  nor  stood  before  that  statue  of  ivory  and  gold 
from  the  chisel  of  Phidias,  one  of  the  wonders  of  the 
world.  In  this  statue  the  eyes  were  so  carefully 
inserted  in  the  ivory,  and  so  exquisitely  colored,  as 
perfectly  to  represent  the  living  eye ;  and  as  it  was 
gazed  upon,  it  seemed  to  return  the  glance  with 
one  as  living  as  your  own. 

Julian  passed  through  the  Agora  before  the  hour 
of  market,  and  having  paused  a  moment  before  the 
temple  of  Aphrodite,  he  ascended  to  the  Propylaea, 
or  portico,  which  formed  the  grand  entrance  into 
the  area  of  the  Acropolis.  It  was  approached  by  a 
gradual  ascent  for  carriages,  and  then  divided  into 

8 


86  PARTHENIA. 

two  flights  of  magnificent  marble  stairs,  one  on  each 
side  of  the  splendid  portico.  A  little  on  the  right, 
as  he  stood  upon  the  upper  step  of  this  glorious 
avenue,  the  Parthenon,  or  "  house  of  the  virgin," 
of  pure  Pentelic  marble,  shone  like  the  star  of 
memory.  Beyond  all  conception  chaste  and  simple 
in  its  beauty,  solemn  in  its  repose,  and  divine  in  its 
serenity. 

Julian  sat  down  upon  the  steps  of  the  Parthe 
non.  At  this  time,  although  the  political  impor 
tance  of  Athens  had  passed  away,  the  glory  of  her 
public  buildings  continued  in  imdiminished  splen 
dor.  Philosophy  still  maintained  her  seat  there. 
Although  she  had  lost  freedom,  she  had  become  the 
great  university  of  the  world,  the  dearest  spot  on 
earth  to  Julian,  as  the  protectress  of  those  studies 
which  made  the  joy  of  his  life.  Below  him  lay  the 
city,  with  all  its  wealth,  its  taste,  its  luxury ;  its 
varied  occupations,  and  amusements ;  the  eminent 
intelligence  of  its  people,  great,  even  in  its  decline. 
As  he  looked  around,  light  flashed  from  the  snowy 
heights  of  the  mountains,  and  deep  shadows  rested 
in  the  dells  of  Hymettus.  Bright  villages,  reposing 
in  all  their  rural  beauty,  shaded  with  olive  groves, 
were  scattered  around,  while  upon  every  height  and 
every  promontory  rose,  in  perfect  beauty,  the  shin 
ing  temples  of  the  Gods.  The  august  shades  of  the 


PARTHENIA.  87 

great  men  of  Greece  seemed  to  pass  before  him,  — 
Socrates  and  Pericles,  poets,  sculptors,  philosophers; 
but  where  now  were  their  descendants  ?  He  could 
not  conceal  from  himself  that  all  human  great 
ness  was  taking  new  forms  and  a  wholly  different 
meaning.  If  Julian's  sagacity  had  not  been  ob 
scured  by  his  pride  of  intellect,  he  must  have  per 
ceived  that  from  Christianity  was  springing  the 
new,  fresh,  living  principle  which  was  creating  all 
things  anew.  How,  he  asked  himself,  can  a  cru 
cified  Jew  and  a  few  fishermen  create  a  principle 
which  shall  be  stronger  than  all  this  glorious  spec 
tacle  ?  And  stretching  his  hand  towards  the  statue 
of  Pallas  Athena,  he  swore  to  consecrate  himself  to 
her  service. 

This  action  seemed  to  attract  towards  him  a  youth 
of  prepossessing  appearance,  who  drew  near,  and 
stood  a  few  steps  below  him.  There  was  an  ex 
pression  of  melancholy  resignation  in  his  counte 
nance,  so  much  in  contrast  with  the  beautiful 
charm  of  his  youth,  that  it  excited  the  curiosity  of 
Julian,  who  soon  perceived  by  external  marks  that 
he  was  a  slave.  The  youth  had  also  perceived  that 
the  Prince  was  a  stranger,  and,  drawing  nearer,  he 
said,  ^  I  perceive  that  tliou  art  not  an  Athenian, 
and  as  my  services  belong  to  the  temple,  perhaps  I 
can  aid  or  guide  you,  noble  stranger." 


88  PARTHENIA. 

Julian  thanked  him,  and  motioned  him  to  take  a 
seat  beside  him.  An  immense  throng  of  people  be 
gan  to  press  up  the  broad  steps  of  the  portico,  pre 
ceding  and  announcing  the  august  ceremonies  of 
one  of  the  days  of  the  festival  of  the  Goddess,  the 
Panathenaea.  The  multitude  passed  on  to  wait  for 
the  true  procession,  which  consisted  first  of  hun 
dreds  of  people,  bearing  olive-branches,  the  tree 
sacred  to  Pallas  Athena.  Then  came  a  train  of  the 
noblest  matrons  in  Athens,  clothed  in  magnificent 
robes,  each  attended  by  a  female  slave.  Then 
came  the  most  beautiful  youths,  wearing  the  ar 
mor  of  Athena,  helmets  and  shields  of  gold,  which 
flashed  back  the  dazzling  sunlight. 

"  The  two  venerable  persons  wlio  now  follow," 
said  the  youth  to  Julian,  "  are  the  bearers  of  the 
sacred  garments  of  the  Goddess.  They  have  been 
woven  with  matchless  skill,  of  threads  of  white  and 
gold,  by  virgins  selected  for  that  purpose.  Now, 
observe,  follow  the  flower-bearers,  the  noblest  vir 
gins  of  Athens,  bearing  light  baskets  upon  their 
heads  filled  with  the  freshest  and  fairest  of  Flora's 
gifts." 

These  were  followed  by  a  group  of  musicians, 
female  flute  and  cithara  players,  "  for  it  must  be 
observed,"  said  the  youth,  "  that  all  the  servants 
of  the  Goddess  are  women." 


PARTHENIA.  89 

"But  now,  lose  not  an  instant,  for  here  follows 
the  most  interesting  part  of  the  procession,  the 
priestesses  of  the  Goddess,  six  in  number.  They 
are  selected,"  continued  the  youth,  "  from  the  most 
beautiful  virgins  in  Greece.  And  see  how  exqui 
sitely  noble  and  composed  is  their  bearing,  and 
how  gracefully  they  wear  their  robes."  These  robes 
were  of  the  finest  wool,  soft  and  white,  and  bor 
dered  by  a  broad  stripe  of  purple.  Their  hair  was 
bound  closely  around  the  head,  and  crowns  of  ol 
ive-leaves  of  molten  silver  rested  lightly  upon  their 
tresses.  Aged  men,  with  white  flowing  locks,  fol 
lowed  their  steps;  afterwards  came  the  foreigners 
in  Athens,  bearing  small,  exquisitely  wrought  boats 
to  symbolize  their  foreign  origin. 

I  have  mentioned  but  a  very  small  part  of  the 
procession.  The  reader  would  be  fatigued  by  the 
description,  far  more  than  was  the  Prince  by  the 
thing  itself.  His  attention  was  arrested  by  the  vir 
gin  priestesses,  who  bore  their  offerings  to  the  altar 
of  the  Goddess,  consisting  of  the  fruit  of  the  olive, 
sheaves  of  wheat,  and  the  first  fruits  of  the  summer. 
They  were  all  beautiful  women ;  but  Julian's  rare 
perception  of  harmony  in  all  things  fixed  his  atten 
tion  upon  one,  whose  beauty  was  peculiar,  and 
greatly  surpassing  all  the  others. 

This  priestess  seemed  unconscious  that  she  pos- 


90  PARTHENIA. 

scssed  that  beauty  so  rare,  but  so  absolute,  that  the 
child  and  the  philosopher,  the  sage  and  the  idiot, 
never  differ  about  it.  In  these  modern  times,  when 
the  claims  of  universal  humanity  are  acknowledged, 
a  certain  idealized  expression  takes  the  place  of 
symmetrical  beauty;  we  do  not  demand  those  ex 
ceptional  forms,  whose  perfect  organization  has  ever 
been  the  standard  of  beauty.  The  beauty  here 
spoken  of  has  been  the  same,  from  the  Niobe  and 
the  Helen  to  Raphael's  celestial  Madonna.  Ho 
mer's  description  of  Helen  might  be  taken  for  that 
of  a  beautiful  Saxon  woman.  The  softly  rounded 
form ;  the  complexion  like  ivory,  "  fresh  from  the 
hands  of  the  turner,"  or,  to  borrow  a  modern  ex 
pression,  like  the  petal  of  the  camellia  just  opened 
to  the  light ;  the  eyes  a  divine  and  matchless  blue, 
like  the  deepest  blue  of  the  summer  heaven ;  the 
whole  form  the  expression  of  strength  and  firm 
ness,  tenderness  and  grace,  the  result  of  a  complete 
harmony  in  the  moral  and  physical  organization. 

Young,  vigorous,  and  healthful  as  the  beauti 
ful  priestess  appeared,  when  Julian  observed  more 
closely  her  full  eye  veiled  by  the  transparent  lid, 
it  seemed  trembling  with  suppressed  tears,  and  in 
dicated  a  veiled  sorrow,  not  softened  by  resignation, 
but  conquered  by  the  supremacy  of  will. 

Thedorus,  the  youth  at  his  side,  startled  Juli- 


PARTHENIA.  91 

aii's  fixed  attention  by  saying,  "Pardon  me,  noble 
stranger;  perhaps  you  are  unacquainted  with  the 
beautiful  priestess  who  thus  commands  your  atten 
tion?  She  is  distinguished  in  Athens  not  more 
for  her  beauty  than  for  her  independent  mode  of 
life." 

Julian  was  thought  to  regard  women  witli  con 
tempt,  as  vain  and  frivolous  beings,  but  he  said  to 
Theodoras,  "  Are  mind  and  person  then  harmoni 
ous  in  that  beautiful  creature,  or,  as  so  often  hap 
pens,  is  beauty  united  to  folly?  the  lustre  of  the 
exterior,  does  it  hide  a  dark  soul  ?" 

"  I  am  so  happy  as  to  know  something  of  Par- 
thenia,"  said  Theodoras ;  "  my  young  sister  dwells 
with  her  as  her  own  attendant,  anclJJE  believe  in  her 
as  I  do  in  the  angels ;  her  heart  is  as  pure  as  the 
ivory  of  her  cheek.  Her  father,  Philotus,  has  been 
Archon  in  Athens,  but  he  passed  many  years  in 
Rome,  and  from  her  Roman  mother  Parthenia  has 
received  much  instruction  which  is  never  given  to 

Athenian  women;  and  since  she  dwelt  in  Athens 

i 
she  has  claimed   for  herself  /a  more   independent 

mode  of  life  than  unmarried,  or  even  married,  wo 
men  enjoy  here.  She  receives  the  noble  youths  of 
Athens  at  her  house,  and  goes  to  the  tragic  theatre, 
veiled  only,  and  without  a  mask ;  yet  the  least 
breath  of  scandal  has  never  tarnished  her  fair  fame." 


92  PARTHENIA. 

"  And  does  she  live  alone  ? "  asked  Julian. 

"  Her  father  is  banished  from  Athens  at  present, 
and  her  mother  is  dead.  It  is  her  intention  to  fol 
low  him  ;  but  a  certain  revenue  is  attached  to  her 
office  of  priestess,  which  her  father  wishes  her  to 
retain  at  present." 

"  But,"  said  Julian,  "  as  a  priestess  of  Pallas 
Athena,  she  is  a  privileged  character,  and  is  pro 
tected  by  her  office." 

Theodoras  shook  his  head.  "  Her  heart  is  not 
much  in  it,  I  imagine,  and  she  only  waits  for  her 
father's  permission  to  follow  him  to  Antioch." 

"Let  her  be  faithful  to  the  Goddess,"  said  the 
Prince,  "  she  will  reward  her."  But  he  added, 
half  to  himself,  "  Why  that  expression  of  sorrow 
upon  her  beautiful  countenance  ?  Sorrow  is  indeed 
sometimes  but  the  shadow  of  too  much  joy,  and  the 
outward  expression  the  sacrament  of  the  soul's  in 
ward  beauty." 

"  Her  heart  is  not  wholly  in  the  service  of  the 
Goddess ;  it  is  even  whispered  that  she  inclines 
towards  the  opinions  of  the  Galileans." 

"  Now  all  the  Gods  forbid,"  cried  Julian,  « that 
such  cursed  heresy  should  ever  penetrate  that  vir 
gin  heart ! " 

Theodoras,  secretly,  as  he  thought,  made  the 
of  the  cross.  Julian  observed  him  more  close- 


PARTHENIA.  98 

ly,  and  saw  that  upon  his  blonde  and  ruddy  face 
there  was  a  querulous  expression,  quite  foreign  to 
his  temperament,  and  unusual  with  the  heathen 
youth,  which  indicated  that  the  pleasures  of  his 
age  did  not  satisfy  the  cravings  of  his  heart. 

"  And  do  you  see  the  fair  Parthenia,  and  does 
she  impart  her  opinions  to  you  ?  "  he  asked. 

"  God  forbid !  "  answered  the  youth. 

Julian  smiled.  "  Why  not  the  Gods  ?  But  pro 
ceed,  tell  me  all  you  know  of  the  lovely  priestess." 

"I  learn  only  through  my  sister,  that  she  is  the 
gentlest,  the  kindest,  and  most  indulgent  of  mis 
tresses;  that  she  admits  all,  even  those  who  have 
no  claim,  to  the  happiness  of  conversing  with  her ; 
and  that  she  is  in  this  like  the  Nazarenes,  —  all  the 
unhappy  and  the  unfortunate  go  to  her  for  relief 
and  comfort." 

Julian  was  excited  and  interested.  He  felt,  al 
though  he  would  not  openly  acknowledge,  the  in 
fluence  of  a  beautiful  woman  upon  the  opinions  of 
the  youth  of  a  city.  lie  remembered  how  many  the 
baptism  of  the  beautiful  Empress  Euscbia  had  con 
verted  to  Christianity.  Certain  far-off  visions  were 
floating  in  his  mind  of  the  future  influence  of  wo 
man  in  establishing  a  pure  Heathenism ;  he  forgot 
that  Christianity  was  necessary  to  elevate  woman  to 
her  true  place  in  the  family, — how  much  more  to 


94  PARTHENIA. 

make  her  the  purifying  and  refining  influence  dif 
fused  through  society ! 

The  procession  had  now  entered  the  Parthenon. 
Julian  asked  the  youth  at  his  side,  if  he  did  not 
join  in  the  sacrifices. 

Theodoras  shook  his  head.  "  I  pray  only  to  one 
God,"  he  said. 

"  To  one !  and  which  of  the  Gods  is  your  Divin 
ity?" 

"  One  alone,  the  Great  Jehovah ! " 

"  You  are  then  of  the  race  of  Israel  ?  "  said  Julian. 

Theodoras  seemed  reluctant  to  speak  of  his  re 
ligious  faith,  and  Julian  did  not  press  him.  They 
descended  the  steps  of  the  Acropolis  together.  The 
odoras,  to  enter  a  place  of  private  Christian  worship, 
• —  as  yet  there  was  no  church  in  Athens,  —  and  Ju 
lian  to  pass  through  the  Cerameicus  to  the  groves 
of  the  Academy,  where,  beneath  its  deepest  foliage 
and  beside  its  limpid  stream,  he  loved  to  wander. 
His  nights,  which  were  not  spent  alone  with  his 
student's  lamp,  were  given  to  the  study  of  astrol 
ogy  and  magic,  together  with  his  friend  Libanius, 
who,  through  true  attachment  to  his  person,  had  fol 
lowed  him  to  Athens.  For  Julian  possessed  that 
magnetic  influence  which,  without  will  of  his  own, 
drew  many  persons  irresistibly  towards  him,  and 
riveted  them  for  ever  unconsciously  to  his  fortunes. 


95 


CHAPTER    XI. 

PAETHENIA. 

THE  private  houses  in  Athens,  as  we  have  said, 
displayed  little  of  the  wealth  so  lavishly  expended 
upon  its  temples.  They  were  plain  and  small. 
But  the  .residence  of  Parthenia  presented  a  some 
what  different  appearance.  Her  parents  having 
spent  many  years  in  Rome,  they  had  learned  to 
unite  with  the  simple  elegance  of  Greece  many  of 
the  refined  luxuries  of  that  capital.  The  implu- 
vium  of  her  entrance-hall  was  ornamented  by  a 
fountain  of  singular  beauty  of  form,  and  the  pillars 
supporting  the  arcades  were  of  the  most  precious 
marbles;  the  rarest  flowers,  forming  the  borders, 
were  constantly  refreshed  by  the  spray  from  the 
fountain.  A  Flora  of  ivory,  exquisitely  carved,  and 
a  small  golden  statue  of  Diana,  stood  on  each  side 
of  the  door  which  led  into  Parthenia's  own  room. 
Immediately  opposite  its  entrance  was  a  small 
statue  of  Athena,  and  an  altar  for  the  offerings 


96  PAETHENIA. 

to  the  Goddess.  Excepting  this,  and  the  usual 
domestic  Lares,  the  room  itself  presented,  in  its 
purity,  a  Christian,  rather  than  a  Heathen  appear 
ance. 

The  room  was  wainscoted  with  panels  of  deli 
cately  carved  ivory,  divided  by  a  moulding  of  gold  ; 
and  above  these,  upon  the  different  compartments, 
were  paintings  of  brilliant  colors,  alternating  witli 
wreaths  of  flowers,  fashioned  to  the  life,  and  formed 
of  imperishable  materials.  Roses,  lilies,  and  all 
the  smaller  gifts  of  Flora,  hung  in  lifelike  forms, 
while  through  their  stems  dropped  the  most  pre 
cious  perfumes  into  small  vases  of  gold,  formed 
for  their  reception.  The  paintings  upon  the  panels, 
executed  by  Grecian  artists,  were  the  successive 
incidents  in  the  life  of  Psyche,  represented  with  a 
vividness  of  art  which  made  the  whole  history  a 
living  reality  before  the  spectator. 

Parthenia,  one  of  the  occupants  of  this  room,  was 
dressed  in  the  simple  fashion  of  a  Grecian  maiden. 
A  robe  woven  of  the  softest  white  wool,  in  texture 
like  the  cashmeres  of  the  present  day,  was  worn 
without  ornament,  except  the  jewelled  clasps  that 
fastened  together  the  upper  part  of  the  sleeves.  A 
purple  scarf  gathered  and  confined  the  robe  at  the 
waist,  and  hung  down  in  front  as  low  as  the  feet  ; 
this  scarf  or  shawl  was  of  fine,  transparent  materials, 


PARTHENIA.  97 

so  that  when  opened  or  expanded  it  would  com 
pletely  veil  the  whole  person.  The  hair  was  bound 
closely,  leaving  the  beautiful  form  of  the  head  en 
tirely  denned,  and  the  line  of  the  exquisitely  formed 
arm  and  hand  was  left  unbroken  by  ornament  of 
any  kind.  The  Greeks  were  too  well  acquainted 
with  the  laws  of  beauty  to  impair  the  graceful  out 
line  of  the  arm  by  a  senseless  ornament.  The 
ornaments  of  the  Grecian  women  of  an  earlier  time, 
like  the  clasps  of  the  chiton  upon  the  arm,  had  the 
appearance  of  being  worn  for  use,  and  Parthenia, 
as  priestess  of  Athena,  was  permitted  to  retain  the 
ancient  dress. 

Certainly  this  dress  possessed  little  resemblance 
to  the  costumes  of  the  present  time,  and  a  Greek 
girl  would  have  been  pronounced,  by  a  Paris  or  an 
American  belle,  without  tournure  or  fashion,  but 
the  Greek  women  imagined  their  own  dress  the 
only  one  that  could  be  worn  with  any  pretension 
to  elegance.  There  is  a  story  that  certain  Ionian 
women,  being  suspected  of  favoring  the  Persian 
faction,  were  condemned  to  wear  the  Persian  dress. 
Such  was  their  horror,  that  they  entreated  to  be 
sold  as  slaves,  or  to  be  cast  into  the  sea,  rather 
than  to  be  subjected  to  such  barbarism. 

Parthenia' s  parents  had  spent  their  married  life 
in  Rome.  Nature  had  endowed  this  only  child 


98  PAETHENIA. 

with  singular  beauty,  and,  as  a  safeguard  from  its 
seductions,  her  parents  had  given  her  almost  a 
masculine  education.  She  had  been  instructed  in 
the  philosophy  and  poetry  of  earlier  times,  and  had 
also  been  taught  the  accomplishments  of  the  period 
in  which  she  lived.  Her  father  thought  thus  to 
furnish  her  with  the  armor  of  a  strong  soul,  with 
the  shield  of  an  instructed  mind,  against  the  terrible 
corruptions  of  Patrician  society.  But  nature,  as 
though  in  defiance  of  all  worldly  wisdom,  had 
given  Parthenia  a  most  feminine  soul,  a  fine  sus 
ceptibility,  not  only  to  all  external  beauty  and  to 
all  expression  of  suffering,  to  joy  and  sorrow,  but 
a  deep  yearning,  an  intense  longing  for  something 
which  the  instructions  of  philosophy  could  not  im 
part,  and  which  she  could  not  find  in  the  rich  life 
by  which  she  was  surrounded. 

After  the  death  of  Parthenia' s  mother,  the  at 
tractions  of  Rome  faded  from  the  horizon  of  her 
father's  life,  and  he  returned  to  Greece,  where 
he  had  large  estates,  and  entered  into  political  life  ; 
that  is,  he  filled  successive  offices  which  satisfied 
his  ambition.  Gladly  would  he  have  had  his 
daughter  adopt  his  own  Epicurean  philosophy, 
and  steel  her  heart  against  all  pain,  as  anxiety 
for  her  happiness  was  the  sole  care  which  dis 
turbed  the  smooth  surface  of  his  life. 


PARTHENIA.  99 

> 

When  his  various  employments  led  him  to  dis 
tant  parts  of  the  Empire,  he  deprived  himself  of 
her  sweet  company,  and,  contrary  to  the  usages  of 
Grecian  society,  gave  her  a  separate  establishment, 
where  she  could  lead  the  independent  life  often 
led  "by  ladies  in  Rome.  A  life  so  at  variance  with 
that  of  the  Greek  women  could  not  but  subject 
her  to  severe  censure  on  the  part  of  the  wise,  and 
to  cruel  misrepresentations  from  the  malicious. 
Respectable  Athenian  women  rarely  quitted  the 
seclusion  of  home,  except  on  special  occasions,  to 
be  the  spectators  of  festal  processions  or  to  swell 
their  pomp.  The  tortoise  was  considered  the 
symbol  of  the  condition  of  women  in  Athens.  In 
Rome,  on  the  contrary,  education  and  custom  fitted 
women  to  become  the  companions  and  advisers  of 
men,  and  their  influence  in  society  for  good  and  for 
evil  was  felt  and  feared. 

The  office  of  priestess,  indeed,  gave  her  a  species 
of  public  life,  and  could  Parthenia  have  been  con 
tent  with  being  only  priestess,  she  would  perhaps 
have  been  happy ;  but  those  very  dispositions  and 
qualities  which  make  a  woman  interesting,  and  are 
the  sources  of  her  inspiration,  carry  with  them  the 
destiny  of  disappointment  and  sorrow.  "  The  iron 
chain  of  conventionalities "  can  alone  protect  a 
woman  who  is  endowed  with  rare  gifts,  which  ex- 


100  PABTHENIA. 

cite  the  jealousy  of  one  sex  and  the  envy  of  the 
other.  If  she  break  down  that  chain,  her  position 
is  still  more  unhappy;  for  the  plant  that  by  its 
nature  is  clinging,  and  puts  out  its  tendrils  for 
support,  can  never  attain  the  hardihood  of  a  tree, 
destined  to  contend  with  wind  and  storms. 

It  was  the  day  after  the  procession  described  in 
the  last  chapter.  Near  the  door  of  the  atrium  in 
Parthenia's  bower,  a  woman  occupied  a  low  seat. 
She  had  reached  that  age  when  the  sluggishness  of 
the  blood  and  the  dimness  of  the  senses  render  the 
sun  and  the  warm  air  and  perfume  of  flowers  de 
lightful  to  existence.  This  ancient  attendant,  or 
nurse,  who  had  reared  the  beautiful  child  from 
her  infancy,  and  now  in  her  old  age  enjoyed  the 
privilege  of  scolding,  petting,  loving,  and  governing 
the  young  woman,  sat  in  the  sun,  alternately  twirl 
ing  the  distaff  and  falling  into  brief  moments  of 
sleep.  The  sun,  as  it  shone  full  upon  her  head, 
heightened  the  brilliant  color  of  her  head-dress, 
and  sharpened  the  outline  of  her  features,  which 
was  somewhat  harsh,  although  softened  away  to 
tender  love  when  she  looked  upon  her  darling. 

"  Dear  child,"  she  said,  "  your  cheek  to-day  is  as 
pale  as  the  lily  that  hangs  over  your  head.  Those 
eternal  processions  and  ceremonies  will  make  you 


PARt'HENTA.  101 

old  before  your  youth  even  lias  taken  the  place  of 
childhood.'' 

"  Ah  Guta !  I  am  more  afraid  they  will  make 
my  heart  as  cold  as  the  marble  of  my  mistress's 
statue.  A  lip  service  without  the  devotion  of  the 
soul  is  —  " 

"  It  would  have  been  wiser,  then,  to  have  trundled 
hoop  or  gathered  crocuses,  than  to  have  crammed 
your  poor  head  with  all  that  learning,"  interrupted 
the  old  woman. 

"  Alas  !  my  dear  mother, —  she  wished  me  to  be 
come  another  Corinne  ;  and  my  father's  ambition 
was  to  fit  me  to  be  the  bride  of  an  emperor. 
Were  they  happy,  the  brides  ?  or  she,  Corinne  ?  " 

"  And  has  not  my  darling  everything  here  to 
make  a  queen  happy  ?  All  but  the  king,"  she 
added  with  a  smile. 

"  Guta !  I  would  rather  fly  away  to  some  lone 
valley  and  there  serve  one  loving  soul ;  work  for 
him  while  he'  worked,  and  watch  him  while  he 
slept." 

"  That  is  always  the  fancy  of  those  who  are  sur 
rounded  by  adorers,  —  solitude  and  one  loving, 
doting  heart."  ^ 

"  But  I  would  dote,  and  I  would  serve,"  said  the 
young  girl. 

"  What !    my  bird !    exchange  your  tender  plu- 

9* 


103  ? ASTHENIA. 

mage  and  downy  nest  for  naked  rafters  or  the 
shelterless  sky  ?  " 

"  These  gorgeous  rooms  are  only  the  trappings  of 
idleness  and  vanity.  I  wish  to  learn  something  of 
the  rough  paths  of  life." 

"  Ah,  teach  those  feet  of  pearl  to  walk  the  iron 
path,  fit  only  for  horny  hoofs ! " 

"In  those  narrow,  iron  paths,  where  the  poor 
grind,  are  learned  the  facts  of  life.  We  have  too 
much  room,  and  learn  only  self-deception,  Guta !  " 

"  Where  has  my  darling  learned  all  this  wisdom, 
or  rather  this  folly  ?  Surely  not  from  these  sur 
roundings,  or  from  her  poor  old  Guta ! "  and  she 
looked  around  with  a  proud  smile. 

"  That  is  the  secret,  Guta ;  the  heart  craves  a 
happiness  which  these  surroundings  only  mock." 

"  What  shall  I  do  to  please  the  eyeball  of  my 
heart  ?  You  would  not  stay  tortoise-like  in  your 
shell,  as  do  the  Greek  ladies  ?  Shall  we  go  again 
to  the  Dionysia  ?  You  remember  when  you  went 
in  boy's  clothes,  and  I  went  to  take  care  of  you  ? 
Then  the  young  dandies  stared  at  the  pretty  boy ! 
Now  that  you  go  in  no  disguise  thicker  than  your 
veil,  they  stare  no  longer,  —  they  respectfully  adore 
my  little  Thena." 

"  Guta,  do  not  treat  me  like  a  spoiled  child,  who 
wants  a  new  plaything.  I  am  only  wearied  by 


PARTHENIA.  103 

yesterday's  labors  "  ;  and  Parthenia  rose,  and,  scat 
tering  some  incense  upon  the  altar  of  Pallas,  knelt 
an  instant  before  it. 

At  this  moment  there  entered  a  young  girl,  who, 
from  her  dress,  was  evidently  a  slave ;  but  the 
youthful  dignity  and  refinement  of  her  whole  bear 
ing  showed  that  slavery  could  not  have  been  her 
original  destination,  —  that  accident  or  misfortune 
had  reduced  her  to  this  abject  state.  She  bore  a 
basket  of  flowers,  with  the  dew  fresh  upon  them, 
and,  placing  the  basket  at  the  feet  of  her  mistress, 
began  to  weave  a  chaplet  for  her  hair. 

"  No,"  said  Parthenia,  "  no  wreath  to-day"  ;  and 
selecting  a  single  white  rose,  she  told  Areta,  the 
child,  to  place  it  in  her  hair.  "  With  the  others," 
she  said,  "  adorn  the  shrines  and  altars." 

"  Pardon  me,  mistress  dear,"  said  the  young  girl, 
"  the  flowers  are  all  too  faded.  Let  me  take  them 
to  the  fountain,  and  to-morrow,  at  the  first  touch  of 
the  flower-market  bell,  I  will  procure  fresh  ones. 

There  was  a  loving  humility  in  the  manner  of 
this  young  girl  that  was  irresistibly  winning,  and 
Parthenia,  although  Guta  grumbled  out,  that  there 
was  an  awful  waste  of  flowers,  consented  that  they 
should  be  scattered  around  the  fountain. 

How  came  this  fair-haired  Northern  girl  to  be  the 
slave  of  the  beautiful  Athenian  ?  Her  father  was 


104  PARTHENIA. 

one  of  the  Christians  condemned  to  be  burnt  under 
the  cruel  edict  of  Galerius.  His  punishment  was 
afterwards  commuted  into  slavery  for  himself  and 
his  whole  family.  These  two  children  were  singu 
larly  attractive,  and,  after  suffering  various  vicissi 
tudes,  they  were  purchased  by  Parthenia's  father. 
The  young  girl  was  given  to  her  as  an  attendant, 
or  rather  as  an  ornament  of  her  bower,  and  the 
boy,  Theodorus,  was  placed  as  an  assistant  at  the 
sacrifices  at  the  temple  of  Pallas.  The  lot  of  the 
girl,  although  that  of  servitude,  was  not  unhappy. 

It  was  the  hour  when  the  young  Athenians  and 
Romans  paid  the  homage  of  their  admiration  to 
beauty ;  Parthenia's  surprise  was  great,  however, 
when  she  saw  Julian  enter  with  them. 

Since  the  day  he  saw  her  at  the  Parthenon,  his 
thoughts  had  dwelt  upon  her  more  than  became 
one  who  called  himself  a  philosopher.  It  was  not 
as  a  worshipper  of  beauty,  nor  as  an  admirer  of 
that  inexpressible  grace  of  manner  which  belonged 
to  her,  that  he  remembered  Parthenia  ;  still  less  did 
he  think  of  her  as  instructed  and  educated,  for  he 
was  not  above  the  weakness  of  disliking  "  a  woman 
more  wise  than  woman  ought  to  be "  ;  but  the 
beautiful  Athenian  was  a  priestess,  devoted  to  the 
service  of  a  heathen  Goddess,  and  although  he  had 
not  yet  declared  himself,  yet  every  one  capable  of 


PARTHENIA.  105 

aiding^ Jiim  in  giving  new  life  and  beauty  to  the 
decaying  service  of  the  Gods  found  favor  in  his 
eyes.  He  recollected  that  Christianity  had  no 
real  hold  upon  the  higher  classes  till  it  had  taken 
deep  root  in  the  devotion  of  woman ;  that  the  Pa 
trician  women  first  made  Christianity  dear  to  the 
inmates  of  their  domestic  circle.  Would  it  not 
therefore  aid  the  cause  of  Heathenism,  if  a  beautiful 
and  educated  woman  would  assist  in  bringing  back 
the  pure  beauty  of  the  Greek  worship  ?  It  was  not 
therefore  to  bow  down  before  the  shrine  of  her 
loveliness,  as  did  the  other  young  Athenians,  that 
Julian  entered  her  bower.  He  looked  around, 
charmed  by  the  elegance  of  the  room ;  but  he  ob 
served  immediately  the  absence  of  flowers  upon 
the  shrines  and  altars.  There  were  no  offer  ings 
of  any  description,  and  no  wreaths  upon  the  statues. 

"  Fair  Parthenia,"  he  said,  "  your  apartment  is 
charming ;  but  there  is  one  thing  so  unusual  in  a 
lady's  room  that  you  must  forgive  me  for  remarking 
it,  —  the  absence  of  Flora's  gifts." 

Parthenia  blushed  slightly,  and  pointed  to  the 
artificial  wreaths  now  dropping  perfumes. 

"  Yes,  exquisite  as  they  are,"  said  the  Prince, 
"  they  cannot  take  the  place  of  their  living  sisters, 
and  Flora,  surely,  should  receive  a  return  for  her 
own  rich  gifts,"  —  and  he  broke  off  a  branch  of 


106  PARTHENIA. 

laburnum,  which  hung  near  the  door,  and  placed 
it  upon  the  small  golden  altar  of  the  Goddess. 

"  I  enjoy  the  flowers  in  their  second  life,"  said 
Parthenia,  "  and  bless  the  man  who  invented  the 
art  of  preserving  their  perfumes.  They  seem  to 
give  us  their  love  after  their  beauty  has  departed." 

"  Like  all  beautiful  things,"  said  the  Prince, 
"  music  leaves  its  echo,  flowers  their  perfumes, 
and  when  destiny  compels  us  to  leave  Parthenia, 
we  carry  her  memory  in  the  heart." 

Just  at  this  moment,  the  petals  of  the  rose  which 
Parthenia  had  placed  in  her  hair,  being  over  full, 
and  too  ripe,  fell,  and  were  scattered  on  the  ground. 
There  was  a  saying  in  Greece,  that,  if  the  petals  fell 
from  the  flower  presented  by  a  stranger,  it  was  to  be 
taken  as  a  warning  of  the  insincerity  of  the  person 
presenting  it.  Although  Julian  did  not  give  her  the 
rose,  the  coincidence,  together  with  the  flattery  just 
from  his  tongue,  called  a  slight  color  to  the  cheek 
of  the  Athenian.  The  Prince  shrugged  his  shoul 
ders,  a  motion  habitual  to  him,  and  began  picking 
up  the  petals  from  the  ground. 

"  Let  us  not  begin  our  acquaintance  with  insin 
cerity,"  said  Parthenia. 

"  Nor  with  superstition,"  said  Julian.  "  The 
Athenians  are  said  to  be  the  most  superstitious 
people  in  the  world.  I  saw  your  altar  dedicated  to 


PARTHENIA.  107 

the  Unknown  God ;  that  is,  I  suppose,  fair  priestess, 
from  the  excessive  care  of  your  countrymen  lest 
any  in  ignorance  should  be  omitted." 

"  There  are,  even  among  the  Athenians,"  said 
Parthenia,  "  some  few  who  would  reconsecrate  that 
altar  to  the  new  Christian  Divinity." 

"  The  Gods  forbid !  Soil  not  your  beautiful  lips 
by  the  mention  of  the  Galilean.  Faith  in  him 
could  no  more  take  root  in  the  soul  of  Parthenia, 
than  I  could  gather  up  these  fallen  leaves  and  re 
insert  them  into  another  bud.  No,  fair  priestess, 
with  time  and  a  new  era,  the  full  bloom  and  beauty 
of  the  ancient  worship  shall  be  restored." 

He  paused  suddenly,  for  he  saw  a  cloud  gather 
over  the  countenance  of  his  listener,  and  he  feared 
he  had  disclosed  too  abruptly  the  thought  always 
foremost.  It  was  too  early,  also,  to  declare  his  de 
cided  hostility  to  Christianity.  He  changed  the 
subject  of  discussion,  and  after  a  visit  of  half  an 
hour,  at  the  entrance  of  three  or  four  young  men 
more  elegant  than  himself,  Julian  took  most  re 
spectful  leave  and  withdrew. 

These  young  courtiers  had  never  found  Parthenia 
so  absent,  although  for  some  weeks  they  had  been 
saying  to  each  other  that  she  was  growing  stupid, 
losing  her  gayety  and  wit,  <fcc.  She,  on  her  part,  had 
never  perceived  them  so  frivolous.  Their  trifling 


108  PAETHENIA. 

loquacity  was  like  the  chirping  of  the  Attic  grass 
hopper  compared  with  the  song  of  the  nightingale 
in  the  garden  of  Plato,  to  which  she  likened  Julian. 
And  yet  there  was  little,  in  this  first  interview,  to 
captivate  her  imagination,  and  certainly  there  was 
not  much  in  the  exterior  of  Julian  that  women  love 
to  look  upon ;  but  when  he  was  interested  in  con 
versation,  he  was  transfigured  and  glorified  by  the 
vividness  of  his  perceptions  ;  friends  and  enemies 
alike  speak  of  the  irresistible  power  of  his  eye,  and 
his  countenance,  not  otherwise  attractive,  was  ir 
radiated  by  the  intenseness  of  his  feelings  and  the 
flashings  of  his  genius. 

VAs  soon  as  Parthenia  was  alone,  she  went  to  seek 
chaplets  for  Pallas  and  Flora,  and  scattered  in 
cense  upon  their  altars. 

Julian  had  nearly  implied  that  the  fair  Athenian 
was  guilty  of  impiety  to  the  Gods,  because  he  found 
no  flowers  or  offerings  upon  their  altars.  The  next 
morning,  therefore,  she  rose  and  entered  early,  and 
found  her  little  attendant  busy  in  the  decoration  of 
her  apartment;  but  she  perceived  with  surprise, 
that  the  shrines  and  altars,  as  well  as  the  Lares  of 
the  hearth,  were  all  without  flowers ;  but  that  wher 
ever  there  was  a  possibility  of  hanging  a  wreath, 
all  cups,  vases,  pillars,  were  most  tastefully  adorned 
with  the  most  delicate  gifts  of  Flora. 


PARTHENIA.  109 

"What  fancy  is  this,"  she  asked  of  her  little 
slave ;  "  you  must  have  culled  everything  delicate 
and  lovely  from  the  flower-market;  but  you  have 
not  given  one  to  the  shrines.  Have  you  not  grati 
tude  sufficient  to  give  back  one  of  her  beautiful 
gifts  to  Flora  herself?  "  she  said,  pointing  to  the 
statue  of  that  Divinity. 

"  Ah  yes !  my  dear  mistress,  1  am  very  thankful. 
Forgive  me  —  another  time,"  —  and  she  stopped, 
confused. 

"These  are  so  beautifully  wreathed,"  said  her 
mistress,  with  indulgence,  "  that  I  will  not  change 
them.  Go  to  the  atrium,  —  you  may  find  some 
thing  there  for  the  shrines." 

"  jPardpn  me,  dear  mistress,"  and  she  sank  on 
her  knee ;  "  but  all  the  flowers  must  be  for  one 
God,  —  our  Father  in  Heaven." 

"  Is  Jupiter,  then,  your  only  Deity  ?  " 

"God  forbid!"  cried  Areta ;  and  as  she  kissed 
the  hand  of  her  mistress,  she  made,  as  she  thought 
unobserved,  the  sign  of  the  cross. 

Parthcnia  had  observed  the  sign.  "You  are 
then  a  Galilean,"  she  said. 

"Dear  mistress,  I  am  a  Christian,  and  I  can 
not  offer  anything  to  the  images  of  the  heathen 
Gods,  for  we  do  not  believe  that  they  are  true 
Gods." 

10 


110  PAETHENIA. 

"  Ah  yes !  I  know.  But  you  make  a  god  of  that 
crucified  Galilean,  the  Christ !  " 

"  Oh  !  do  not  speak  of  him  with  that  scornful 
voice.  Did  you  but  know  his  history,  and  that  it 
is  the  sweetest  thing  to  think  of  his  life,  and  to  re 
member  his  precious  words —  " 

"  Who  then  has  taught  you  his  words  ?  You  are 
but  a  child,  and  he  lived,  as  I  think,  more  than 
three  hundred  years  ago,  and  even  your  father's 
father  could  not  have  known  him." 

"  Ah  no !  but  we  have  the  book  of  his  life,  the 
Gospels.  My  mother  read  them  all,  and  cherished 
his  precious  words  in  her  heart  of  hearts  ;  and  when 
she  gathered  us  around  her  knees,  she  was  never 
weary  of  repeating,  or  we  of  hearing  them  "  ;  and 
Areta's  eyes  filled  with  tears  at  the  recollection  of 
her  mother  and  her  childhood's  home. 

"  But  your  Christ,"  said  Parthenia,  "  cursed  the 
Gods  of  our  country,  and  would  destroy  our  re 
ligion  and  our  beautiful  temples." 

"  No,  dear  mistress  !  forgive  me  that  I  contradict 
you.  The  Christ  cursed  nothing ;  he  was  all  love 
and  forgiveness.  Christians  cannot  sacrifice  to 
your  Gods  without  denying  him,  who  died  for 
them.  And  so  they  have  been  scourged,  and 
burnt,  and  sold  into  slavery." 

"  Were  your  parents  the  victims  of  persecution  ? 


PARTHENIA.  Ill 

was  it  their  only  crime  that  they  worshipped  the 
Nazareiie  ?  " 

"  My  father  was  prefect  of  the  guards ;  he  was 
ordered  to  burn  incense  to  Jupiter,  but  rather  than 
do  that,  he  took  off  his  sword  and  gave  it  to  the 
officer.  To  punish  him,  he  was  sold,  and  my  mother 
also.  They  offered  liberty  to  my  brother  if  he 
would  leave  them,  but  we  all  clung  together  and 
were  all  sold  for  slaves.  We  suffered  great  misery, 
till  your  noble  father,  seeing  how  superior  was  this 
slave  to  all  others,  appointed  him  to  a  confidential 
office  under  himself,  and  gave  me  to  you.  Dearest 
mistress,  I  will  obey  you  in  all  things  else,  but  do 
not  command  me  to  bring  flowers  to  the  shrines,  or 
to  burn  incense  upon  the  altars.  It  is  not  wrong 
for  you,  because  you  believe  in  your  Gods,  but  oh ! 
I  cannot  so  offend  the  dear  and  blessed  Saviour." 

"  Your  Saviour,  as  you  call  him,  is  no  longer  on 
earth  ;  how  then  can  you  offend  him  ?  " 

"  0,  he  lives!  he  lives  in  heaven,  and  looks  down 
with  love  upon  all  who  believe  in  him!"  And 
Areta,  embracing  the  knees  of  her  mistress,  burst 
into  tears. 

Ah,  thought  Parthcnia,  that  I  could  have  such 
faith  in  the  Deity  whose  altars  I  serve,  as  this  child 
has  in  her  Christ !  And  raising  her,  she  kissed  her 
cheek,  and  asked  her  why  she  wept. 


112  PAETHENIA. 

"  I  cannot  help  weeping,  because  you  do  not  be 
lieve  in  the  Christ." 

"  Dear  child,  you  shall  in  future  be  spared,  from 
adorning  the  shrines  and  altars.  You  shall  only 
bring  me  the  flowers,  I  will  wreathe  them.  Go 
now  to  Guta.  I  wish  to  be  alone." 


In  the  fourth  century,  Christianity  had  made 
little  progress  in  Athens.  There  was  no  Christian 
church  there.  Parthenia  had  regarded  it  only  as 
a  new  and  vulgar  superstition ;  it  had  never  been 
presented  to  her  mind  united  with  the  charm  of 
natural  goodness.  Neither  had  Paganism  become 
so  corrupt  as  in  other  cities  of  the  Empire.  She 
had  had  no  opportunity  to  contrast  the  debasing 
influence  of  the  worship  of  some  of  the  Deities 
with  the  purity  of  life  enjoined  by  Christianity. 
Unlike  Julian,  she  cherished  no  hatred  towards  the 
sect,  but  she  felt  no  wish  to  approach  them  nearer, 
or  to  acquaint  herself  with  their  principles.  And 
yet  there  were  peculiarities  in  the  mind  of  the 
beautiful  Greek,  through  which  she  would  inevi 
tably  become  a  Christian ;  with  all  her  pride  of 
intellect,  and  her  restless  desire  after  knowledge, 
she  felt  a  distrust  of  self,  a  painful  timidity,  a  want 
of  confidence  in  her  powers,  which  often  made  her 
fall  short  of  what  was  expected  of  her,  and  even  of 


PARTHENIA.  113 

what  she  expected  of  herself.  Self-esteem,  self- 
confidence,  seemed  to  have  been  left  out  of  her 
mental  gifts.  Endowed  as  she  was  with  a  heart 
of  the  tenderest  emotions,  she  had  never  known  a 
true  equal  affection.  Orphaned  so  early,  and  with 
out  a  sister,  her  heart  had  clung  only  to  those 
inferior  to  herself;  and  as  her  mind  expanded,  they 
lost  their  hold  upon  her  intellect.  Still  she  pos 
sessed  that  quickness  of  sympathy  which  is  always 
an  original  gift  to  the  heart,  depending  neither 
upon  race,  nor  climate,  nor  religion.  It  is  a 
balsam  for  the  wounds  of  life,  and  like  those 
balsams,  diffused  through  many  unsightly  plants, 
often  also  of  an  ungenial  climate,  it  is  the  pre 
cious  gift  of  Nature  to  her  favorite  children. 

The  gift  of  the  little  slave-girl  to  Parthenia  was 
one  of  the  most  beneficent  that  could  be  offered  to 
her.  A  superficial  observer  would  have  said  that 
upon  Areta  alone  was  conferred  the  benefit  when 
destiny  placed  her  under  the  care  of  her  mistress. 
But  when  the  sweet  natural  piety  and  trusting  faith 
of  the  younger  mind  was  opened  to  that  of  Par 
thenia,  so  full  of  uncertainty  and  of  baffled  aspi 
ration,  her  loftier  mind  rested  upon  it,  as  the 
wearied  eye  finds  repose  in  the  homelike  green 
of  the  common  field.  Could  she  have  descended 
from  her  ideal  height,  and  permitted  that  divine 
10* 


114  PAETHENIA. 

sympathy  with  which  God  had  endowed  her  to 
gush  out  upon  all  who  suffered,  upon  all  less 
happy  than  herself,  the  fair  brow  of  the  Greek 
would  have  worn  a  crown  of  joy.  But  that  all 
men  were  brothers  and  entitled  to  love,  was  an 
idea  that  never  had  entered  the  heathen  mind  ;  and 
Parthenia  in  the  midst  of  her  worshippers,  prouder 
of  her  intellect  than  of  her  beauty,  would  often 
turn  to  the  little  slave  Areta  and  envy  hor  quiet 
happiness. 


115 


CHAPTER    XII. 

THE  FRIENDS. 

LIBANIUS,  the  Asiatic  and  the  sophist,  had  fol 
lowed  Julian  to  Athens.  We  may  also  call  him  a 
philosopher ;  for  in  the  midst  of  a  corrupt  age,  he 
preserved,  together  with  firm  adherence  to  the  old 
Heathenism,  purity  of  taste,  of  manners,  and  of  life. 

These  friends  were  worthy  of  each  other;  their 
friendship  was  founded  upon  the  esteem  of  each  for 
the  great  qualities  of  the  other,  and  it  was  free  from 
adulation  on  the  one  side,  and  condescension  on  the 
other.  After  Julian  ascended  the  throne,  Libariius 
taught  him  that,  although  he  could  command  a 
subject,  he  must  deserve  a  friend.  Both  opposed 
Christianity  with  might ;  Julian  with  intense  ha 
tred,  his  friend  with  indifference  to  Christianity, 
but  from  love  to  Julian,  and  for  the  philosophy  of 
the  ancients,  spiritualized  by  the  idealism  of  Plato. 
Neither  of  them  could  appreciate  the  new  ideas 
which  Christianity  was  everywhere  infusing  into 


116  PARTHENIA. 

the  corrupt  society  of  their  age.  As  these  divine 
ideas  were  first  proclaimed  .by  fishermen  and  Gal 
ileans,  the  proud  minds  of  Julian  and  Libanius 
could  see  no  beauty  in  them.  Thus  it  is  ever. 
The  God-like  must  be  lowly  born.  While  the 
proud  and  wordly-wise  are  looking  at  the  stars,  the 
light  which  illumines  all  around  comes,  like  that  in 
the  "Night"  of  Correggio,  from  the  humble  and 
rustic  manger. 

"  Let  us  sit  in  the  atrium,"  said  Libanius.  "  Af 
ter  the  excessive  heat  of  the  day,  the  night  is  sul 
try  ;  but  how  exquisitely  does  this  heat  bring  out 
the  perfume  of  your  flowers  !  " 

"  And  how  soothing  is  the  murmur  of  the  foun 
tain,  and  this  fresh  breeze  which  finds  its  way 
through  the  marble  pillars  of  the  court !  "  said  Ju 
lian. 

"  And  the  blue  of  the  sky  seems  deepened  by 
these  shadows.  Is  that  the  constellation  of  the 
Lyre  which  we  see  just  above  the  plane-tree  ? " 
asked  Libanius. 

"Ah,  this  Grecian  sky!  these  Attic  nights!" 
said  Julian,  sighing.  "  See,  how  silently  the  marble 
statues  of  the  Gods,  gleaming  pale  in  the  night, 
consecrate  this  place  to  thought !  " 

"  The  dropping  of  the  water-clock  alone  breaks 
the  silence,"  said  his  friend. 


PARTHENIA.  117 

"  As  it  measures  the  hours,  it  is  often  my  lullaby, 
when  it  should  be  my  monitor,"  said  Julian. 

After  a  pause,  Libanius  said,  "  Thou  art  silent, 
my  Julian ;  art  thou  thinking  of  adding  another 
to  these  Divinities  ?  Aphrodite  has  surely  been  of 
late  propitious  to  thee." 

"  Jest  not !  I  am  thinking  that  this  Athens  is  the 
only  place  for  me;  this  Athenian  atmosphere,  where 
we  breathe  the  inspiration  of  Gods  and  poets,  is  the 
only  one  where  we  can  live  a  true  life.  Here,  with 
these  divine  companions,  would  I  live  for  ever." 

"  My  Julian,  I  think,  would  add  a  truly  tender 
heart  to  these  hearts  of  stone !  But  seriously, 
would  you  be  satisfied  with  the  fame  of  poet  and 
philosopher,  and  leave  the  world  to  Ca3sar  ?  " 

"  What  can  be  better  than  tranquillity  in  the  gar 
dens  of  Athens,  or  in  the  myrtles  around  the  cot 
tage  of  Socrates?  Shall  I  exchange  my  gold  for 
brass,  —  what  cost  me  a  hundred  beeves,  for  the 
low  price  of  nine  ?" 

"  Jupiter  has  placed  you  in  the  same  active  path 
with  Hercules  and  Bacchus,  who  philosophized,  and, 
at  the  same  time,  freed  the  earth  from  monsters  of 
vice  and  crime." 

"  And  yet  Hercules  was  set  to  spinning.  I  would 
rather  sing  their  adventures,  as  porters  do  in  the 
streets,"  said  Julian. 


118  PARTHENIA. 

Libanius  lifted  his  eyebrows  as  though  he  would 
say,  "  We  shall  see."  "  What  then  is  to  become  of 
your  reign  of  Saturn,  — your  golden  age  ?  " 

"  Ah !  my  friend,  our  undertakings  and  our  hap 
piness  depend  not  so  much  on  our  dispositions  as 
on  Fortune,  the  God  who  governs  all  things ;  be 
sides,  I  am  conscious  of  no  superior  talents,  natural 
or  acquired — " 

"  Pardon  me,  true  happiness  by  no  means  de 
pends  on  fortune.  But  let  that  pass.  Julian  !  you 
are  not  a  man  to  sit  down  beneath  your  myrtles  and 
listen  to  your  Attic  bees,  and  that  you  are  dreaming 
of  this  effeminate  life  assures  me  that  some  Gre 
cian  muse  has  crossed  the  light  of  your  Helios." 

"  To  govern  well,"  said  Julian,  blushing  slightly, 
"  seems  to  me  more  than  human.  The  trade  which 
he  has  learned,  let  each  man  practise.  I  have  learnt 
to  sing." 

"  But  you  must  be  the  architect  of  illustrious 
deeds.  It  is  your  right !  Your  birthright  to  right 
the  world." 

"  Might  is  greater  than  right.  Constantius  has 
it  now,  and  he  is  capable  of  every  crime." 

"  My  Prince,  your  position  makes  you  exaggerate 
your  danger." 

"  Exaggerate  !  up  to  this  very  hour,  has  not  my 
life  been  but  the  permitted  boon  of  the  jealous  ty- 


.       PARTHENIA.  119 

rant,  who  murdered  my  father,  and  has  inflicted 
every  species  of  degradation  upon  me?" 

"There  has  indeed  been  little  of  the  beautiful 
spirit  of  gentleness  which  Christians  assert  govern 
their  sect  in  the  treatment  of  their  enemies,"  said 
Libanius. 

"  Alas !  what  is  there  in  the  future  for  me  but 
ignominious  obscurity,  or  fatal  distinction  such  as 
poor  Gallus  met?  Ah!  could  I  dwell  secure  in 
Athens  beneath  the  protection  of  Pallas  and  a  softer 
divinity ! " 

"  Hush !  Jupiter  is  greater  than  either !  "  said 
Libanius.  "But  he  will  not  protect  us  from  spies. 
Every  time,  my  Prince,  that  you  cross  the  atrium 
of  the  beautiful  Greek,  a  missive  goes  on  to  Milan. 
At  the  first  kiss,  a  bowstring  will  be  around  your 
throat,  or  you  will  drink  together  a  poisoned  cup." 

Julian  turned  pale  as  death.  "  Ah,  what  is  the 
design  of  the  Emperor  ?  "  he  whispered. 

"  Has  he  not  a  sister,  Helena,  the  sister  also  of 
that  cruel  fiend  poor  Gallus  was  compelled  to 
marry  ?  " 

Libanius  knew  well  that  Julian  must  marry  one 
of  the  imperial  family,  and  though  he  wished  to 
warn  him,  he  was  not  unwilling  to  see  him  charmed 
by  Parthenia.  He  had  always  believed  Julian  in 
sensible  to  the  attractions  of  woman,  and  as  his  ideas 


120  PAETHENIA. 

I 

of  love  were  not  much  more  refined  than  those  of 
other  Heathens,  although  his  Prince  could  not 
marry  the  beautiful  Athenian,  he  was  willing  the 
philosopher  should  obey  the  leading  of  the  winged 
boy. 

Both  friends  were  silent.  Libanius  was  afraid  to 
recur  again  to  the  subject  of  which  he  was  thinking. 
He  looked  at  the  water-clock.  "  By  all  the  Graces 
and  the  Loves !  the  hour  is  not  too  late.  Let  us  to 
the  divine  Parthenia! " 

"  It  is  too  late,"  said  Julian,  rising  and  looking 
also.  "  I  stir  not  to-night."  He  preferred  also 
making  the  visit  without  his  friend. 

"  If  lovers,"  as  the  poet  says,  "  in  one  day  grow 
old,  you  have  trebled  your  age ;  then  waste  no 
more  days,  my  Prince." 

The  color  rushed  to  Julian's  brow.  "  Do  I  look 
like  a  lover,"  he  said,  "  with  this  curling  beard  and 
this  coarse  tunic  ?  " 

"  I  know  you  affect  the  cynic,  but  so  did  Pericles ; 
yet  Aspasia  loved  him." 

Julian's  eyes  flashed,  hardly  in  much  anger.  He 
liked  to  be  compared  with  Pericles ;  but  as  a  shade 
had  been  cast  upon  Aspasia's  fair  fame,  he  would 
not  have  her  name  connected  with  that  of  the  di 
vine  Parthenia. 

Anger   with    him  was   momentary ;    and   as   he 


PARTHENIA.  121 

turned  to  his  sleeping  apartment,  lie  held  out  his 
hand, — "  Good  night !  dearest,  best  beloved  broth 
er."  * 

Every  movement  of  Julian  was  observed  and  re 
ported  by  spies  secretly  employed  by  the  sycophants 
of  the  Emperor ;  Julian  therefore  guarded  his  ac 
quaintance  with  Parthenia  as  much  as  possible  from 
observation.     His  visits  were  made,  not  at  the  usual 
reception  hours,  but  when  the  crowd  of  her  wor 
shippers  had  left  the  beautiful  idol  alone.     That  he 
was  admitted  at  such  unusual  hours  was  not  be 
cause  he  was  heir  to  the  Empire,  but  because  he 
possessed   a  magnetic  influence  which  opened  all 
doors,  I  had  almost  said,  all  hearts.     Not  so,  —  he 
had  a  bitter  enemy,  as  well  as  spies,  in  Athens.     Of 
this  very  time,  Saint  Gregory  of  Nazianzen  said, 
u  Prince  Julian,  of  all  mortals,  is  surely  the  most 
wonderful ;  an  enigma  of  contradictions  ;  an  object 
of  intense  love,  of  intense  hatred ;  enticing,  yet  re 
pulsive  ;    sought   after  with  wild   admiration,   yet 
equally  to  be  feared."     If  an  enemy  thus  felt  his 
influence,  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that,  where  he 
sought  to  make  himself  beloved,  he  should  reign 
supreme. 

The   Prince  entered  the  apartment  already  de- 

*  The  phrase  with  which  he  closes  his  letters  to  Libanius. 
11 


122  PABTHENIA. 

scribed,  at  an  hour  when  he  thought  he  should  find 
Partheiiia  alone  with  Guta  only,  her  old  nurse. 
He  had  in  his  hand  a  small  basket  of  fretted  silver, 
in  which  there  were  a  few  of  the  superb  long- 
stemmed  figs  so  prized  by  the  Greeks,  and  also  re 
garded  as  an  antidote  to  poison.  These  figs  were 
borne  by  a  tree  which  overshadowed  the  house 
where  Julian  dwelt. 

"Lovely  Parthenia,"  he  said,  "I  bring  you  an 
offering  whose   beauty  far  excels  its  value,  except 
•that  the  fig  is  consecrated  to  the  Gods,  and  upon 
the  altar  they  furnish  a  sweeter  perfume  than  frank 
incense." 

"  The  figs  of  Athens  excel  all  other  figs,"  said 
Parthenia,  "  as  much  as  your  figs  seem  to  excel 
those  of  Athens." 

"  I  wish,"  he  said,  "  that  I  could  have  brought 
you  the  tree  itself,  as  by  their  long  stems  its  fruit 
hung  around  it  in  a  circular  form,  like  cups  of  por 
phyry,  or  a  necklace  of  precious  stones." 

"They  are  wonderfully  beautiful,"  said  Parthe 
nia,  placing  one  of  them  upon  the  altar  of  Pallas 
Athena,  and  are  worthy  to  stand  beside  the  olive- 
tree  of  Pallas. 

"  The  fig  is  deemed  by  Aristotle  an  antidote 
against  all  poison,  —  and  if  thou,  fairest  Greek, 
hast  an  enemy — " 


PARTHENIA.  123 

Parthenia,  laughing,  assured  him  that  she  count 
ed  her  friends  by  hundreds,  and  her  enemies  as 
naught. 

"  And  thy  worshippers  ?  "  he  said,  playfully  fall 
ing  on  one  knee.  Instantly  neck,  cheek,  and  brow 
of  the  fair  Greek  were  crimsoned  by  a  rush  of  the 
blood,  and,  following  the  direction  of  Parthenia's 
eyes,  the  Prince  first  perceived  that  she  was  not 
alone. 

Immediately  the  person  came  forward  from  the 
recess  which  had  partly  concealed  him.  He  was  a 
man  of  noble  appearance,  richly  attired  in  the  Ori 
ental  fashion,  with  a  beard  longer  but  more  silky 
than  Julian's.  He  looked  old,  but  upon  closer  ob 
servation  the  marks  of  age  were  wholly  in  the  ex 
pression,  not  in  the  features.  These  indicated  a 
person  of  scarcely  forty  years.  His  brow,  polished 
like  the  finest  Parian  marble,  was  shaded  by  hair  of 
a  beautiful  brown  color,  without  a  thread  of  white. 
The  most  striking  of  his  features  were  the  eyes, 
which  seemed  to  pierce  through  and  through  one 
like  a  flash  of  lightning ;  but  when  the  countenance 
was  in  repose,  it  was  like  a  mask  which  concealed 
a  profound  depth  of  sorrowful  experience.  There 
was  an  expression  of  ill-concealed  contempt  about 
the  lips  in  repose,  but  his  smile  was  inexpressibly 
fascinating.  He  seemed  like  a  man  to  be  avoided, 


124  PAETHENIA. 

and  yet  there  was  an  individuality  so  attractive, 
that  it  was  almost  impossible  to  resist  it. 

"  The  figs  are  superb,  worthy  to  be  offered  to  the 
Goddess  of  Love  and  to  her  most  beautiful  minis 
ter,"  he  said,  bowing  low  to  Parthenia.  "Such  I 
have  seen  only  once  before,  in  the  garden  of  Zenobia 
in  Palmyra,  where  everything  attained  a  beauty 
unknown  elsewhere." 

Julian  turned  his  eyes  upon  him  with  surprise. 
"  If  I  recollect  aright,"  he  said,  "  Zenobia  has  been 
dead  onore  than  half  a  century." 

The  stranger  colored  deeply;  but  he  instantly 
added:  "The  Queen  has  indeed  been  dead  as  long, 
but  her  garden  and  the  fig-tree  have,  alas  !  a  longer 
existence  upon  this  earth,  than  she  who  was  the 
most  precious  of  its  jewels." 

"  Homer  praises  other  fruits  for  their  size,  but 
to  the  fig  alone  he  gives  the  epithet  of  sweetness," 
said  Julian. 

"Homer  adds,"  said  the  stranger, 

"  The  same  mild  season  gives  the  blooms  to  blow, 
The  buds  to  harden,  and  the  fruits  to  grow." 

"  That  is  only  in  Damascus,"  said  Julian,  sup 
posing  the  stranger  to  be  a  Syrian,  that  trae  city  of 
Jupiter,  unrivalled  in  the  excellence  of  all  its  pro 
ductions. 

"  Ah !  "  said  Cartophilus,  for  it  was  the  Jew,  "  and 


PARTHENIA.  125 

arc  not  Palestine  and  Jerusalem  famed  for  this  pre 
cious  tree,  whose  shadow  protects  from  its  too  burn 
ing  sun,  and  overtops  its  ruined  walls  ?  " 

The  Jew's  sorrowful  thoughts  seemed  to  have 
wandered  back  to  his  country,  to  the  fallen  temple, 
and  the  stones  of  Zion ;  and  while  Julian  was  ex 
clusively  occupied  with  Parthenia,  he  remained  si 
lent. 

Meanwhile  another  person  had  entered,  who  soon, 
however,  drew  to  himself  the  attention  of  the  Prince. 
His  appearance  was  as  striking  as  that  of  Carto- 
philus,  although  of  an  opposite  type  of  beauty.  His 
blue  eyes,  and  hair  approaching  a  golden  hue,  gave 
him  the  appearance  of  a  Saxon,  and  strikingly  con 
trasted  with  the  Jew,  whose  inky  beard,  and  com 
plexion  browned  by  a  Syrian  sun,  and  eyes  capable 
of  expressing  the  most  opposite  and  violent  passions, 
exercised  a  fascination  that  made  him  as  fearful  as 
he  was  at  times  attractive. 

Julian,  although  talking  with  a  woman,  could  not 
long  avoid  introducing  his  favorite  themes,  Homer 
and  his  commentators,  or  rather  Homer  as  ex 
plained  and  illustrated  by  Plato,  who  thus  com 
prised,  as  he  thought,  all  the  wisdom  and  all  the 
poetry  of  the  world. 

"Of  what  value,"  continued  the  Prince,  "are 
these  schools  of  Alexandria?  They  make  trage- 


126  PARTHENIA. 

dies,  hymns,  even  Epic  poems,  things  which  bear 
the  same  names  as  did  the  sublime  productions  of 
ancient  Greece ;  but  how  empty,  how  cold,  what 
mere  skeletons  of  dry  bones,  are  all  these  works, 
compared  with  (the  surging,  rushing,  living  life  of 
Homer!  "^ 

"  Prince !  your  busy  life  has  not  allowed  you 
tune  to  study  the  Prophets  and  Odes  of  the  Hebrew 
Scriptures,"  said  the  Jew. 

"  I  have  read  them  as  I  have  the  Odes  of  Pindar. 
They  are  noble  hymns  to  be  sung  in  the  temples  of 
the  Gods ;  but  Homer  we  take  to  our  bosom,  as  the 
companion,  the  teacher,  the  friend.  The  blind  old 
man  comes  in  to  our  tent,  sings  to  us  when  we  are 
gay,  weeps  with  us  when  we  are  sad,  works  with 
us,  plays  with  us,  and  when  we  sleep  lays  his  gray 
temples  on  the  same  pillow  by  our  side,  and  does 
not  leave  us  even  in  our  dreams." 

"  Noble  Prince,  we  admit  all  that,"  said  the  fair- 
haired  stranger,  "but  are  we  never  to  have  any 
thing  but  Homer  and  Plato?  Shall  we  for  ever 
gather  up  the  fallen  leaves  from  the  trees  of  our 
ancient  forest,  to  bind  them  into  garlands  and  chap- 
lets,  and  not  perceive  the  fresh-springing  verdure 
and  flowers,  whose  perfumes  we  tread  under  foot?  " 

"Most  worthy  discoverer,"  said  Julian,  with  his 
habitual  shrug  of  the  shoulders,  "  where  have  you 


PARTHENIA.  127 

found  this  fresh  soil  and  this  garden  of  fresh-spring 
ing  flowers  ?  " 

"  Commenting  upon  Homer,"  continued  the  other, 
"  will  never  create  another  Homer.  We  must  look 
to  the  new  ideas  of  the  Christian  orators  for  a  new 
poem.  Their  burning  enthusiasm,  their  new  pas 
sions  of  suffering  and  martyrdom,  will  create  new 
poets  of  a  new  religion." 

Julian's  lip  curled.  "  Think  you  that  your  con 
temptible  superstition  will  ever  inspire  men's  souls 
as  the  Gods  and  Heroes  of  our  mythology  ?  Leav 
ing  our  Homer,  look  at  our  sublime  tragedies,  every 
one  of  which  is  a  religious  festival,  in  which  the 
whole  of  the  assembled  world,  were  there  room, 
would  unite." 

"  My  Prince,"  said  the  other,  "  they  are  past  as 
religious  festivals !  As  surely  hope  the  tree  that 
has  been  felled  and  withered  to  wreathe  itself  again 
with  fresh  leaves  and  flowers,  as  your  old  supersti 
tions  to  bear  fruit  for  the  people." 

"  If  you  would  be  inspired  by  religious  poetry,  and 
have  your  whole  heart  stirred  with  enthusiasm," 
said  the  Jew,  turning  to  the  Prince,  "  read  the  song 
of  Deborah,  and  the  chant  of  Moses  after  passing  the 
Red  Sea." 

"  It  is  only  when  the  soul  is  moved  and  trembling 
like  the  chords  of  a  lyre,  as  in  the  hymns  of  the 


128  PARTHENIA. 

Christians,"  said  Cesarien,  "  that  the  most  exalted 
and  purest  inspiration  of  the  poet  is  found." 

Julian  was  silent.  There  was  a  charm  in  the 
whole  appearance  and  character  of  Cesarien,  the 
brother  of  Gregory,  which  had  taken  complete  hold 
of  him.  And  although  he  was  a  Christian,  Julian 
sought  and  attached  him  to  his  person,  and  when 
he  became  Emperor,  made  him  one  of  the  physi 
cians  of  his  household. 

He  now  continued,  undaunted  by  a  frown  on  the 
brow  of  the  Prince,  and  repeated  some  verses  of  a 
Christian  hymn.  "  Yes,"  he  said,  "  in  returning  to 
prayer  to  the  Universal  Father,  and  to  prayer  more 
exalted  and  pure  than  any  other,  the  Christians 
have  found  the  true  lyric  inspiration." 

Julian  was  not  inclined  to  continue  the  conver 
sation,  and  soon  after  he  took  leave  and  left  the 
apartment. 


129 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

ADIEU  TO  ATHENS. 

PARTHENIA  was  completely  subdued  by  the  fas 
cination  of  Julian's  character  and  conversation. 
Her  own  powers  of  wit,  of  lively  repartee,  of  gay 
frivolity,  which  she  wielded  so  well  with  the  young 
Athenians,  seemed  to  sleep  in  his  presence.  And 
yet,  had  she  been  conscious  of  her  power,  her  own 
intellect  was  not  so  very  inferior  to  his,  and  in  some 
respects  superior,  because  she  was  free  from  vanity. 
He  was  rich  in  every  form  of  instruction,  and  she 
had  been  taught  only  what  a  few  women  are  so 
happy  as  to  learn.  In  his  presence  she  wished  only 
to  listen,  for  every  accent  of  his  classic  Greek  was 
melody,  and  every  word  seemed  to  drop  from 
Apollo's  lips.  While  she  listened,  a  transparent 
paleness  overspread  her  cheek,  which  gave  her 
an  ideal  beauty ;  and  Julian  began  to  feel  for  her 
a  sentiment  of  more  than  admiration,  of  deepest 
tenderness  and  passion,  from  which  he  knew  he 
must  fly. 


130  PARTHENIA. 

A  monitor  was  constantly  at  his  ear  and  his 
heart,  whispering  to  him  that  a  chain  of  iron  bound 
his  destiny  to  the  will  of  the  Emperor ;  that  at  any 
moment  he  might  recall  him  to  the  court,  or  send 
him  to  the  remotest  corner  of  the  Empire ;  to  con 
nect  the  destiny  of  the  beautiful  Greek  with  his  by 
marriage,  would  perhaps  have  been  destruction  to 
both,  and  when  he  looked  upon  the  pure  pale  cheek 
of  Partheiiia,  he  felt  that  any  other  union  would 
have  been  impossible. 

Historians  have  written  that  Julian  never  loved 
any  woman ;  what  means  had  they  of  knowing  ?  He 
might,  as  we  have  imagined,  have  subdued  passion 
by  an  iron  will.  He  was  almost  ready,  as  we  have 
seen,  to  sacrifice  his  ambition  for  his  love  of  letters 
and  of  Homer ;  he  was  not  ready  to  sacrifice  his 
future  for  love.  He  did  not  believe  in  Christianity, 
perhaps  he  did  not  believe  in  love !  and  therefore 
was  not  ready  for  that  one  priceless  jewel  to  give  up 
the  trappings  and  the  gauds  of  life,  much  less  his 
great  ambition.  Besides,  he  had  not  yet  learnt 
much  of  the  character  of  the  beautiful  Athenian; 
he  had  not  penetrated  beyond  its  surface.  He 
thought  her  happy  in  her  light  duties  as  priestess 
of  Athena,  and  he  knew  nothing  of  the  longing  of  a 
soul  for  ever  seeking  what  for  ever  seems  unattain 
able.  Did  he  find  it  easy  to  shut  her  out  of  his 


PARTHENIA.  131 

ambitious  dreams?  Had  he  known  the  value  of 
the  pure  diamond,  would  he  have  given  up  all  to 
make  it  his  own  ?  These  questions  we  cannot  an 
swer.  One  tiling  we  know,  he  feared  that  the  next 
messenger  who  returned  to  the  court  of  Constan- 
tius  would  bear  back  his  empty  slippers,  and  per 
haps  his  heart,  as  proof  of  his  assassination. 

Julian  sought,  in  his  conversation  with  Parthenia, 
to  increase  her  reverence  for  the  beautiful  fables  or 
myths  of  Paganism,  and  asked  once  if  she  had  stud 
ied  the  meaning  of  the  exquisite  painting  on  the 
walls  of  her  apartment. 

Parthenia  said,  that  she  supposed  the  divine 
Psyche  represented  the  progress  of  the  soul  as  she 
passed  through  her  earthly  trials. 

"  The  soul,  in  the  first  moment  of  her  existence, 
is  represented  of  such  ideal  beauty  that  she  might 
have  passed  for  one  of  the  Immortals,  as  the  soul  is 
indeed  immortal.  This  purity  of  beauty  excites  the 
hatred  of  Aphrodite,  the  Goddess  of  sensual  love, 
and  she  sends  her  son  to  excite  in  her  a  passion  for 
some  unworthy  object." 

"But,"  said  Parthenia,  "this  magnificent  palace 
into  which  we  see  her  entering,  seems  not  the  abode 
of  a  soul." 

"  In  this  palace,"  the  Prince  continued,  "  she  is 
placed  in  circumstances  of  happiness,  but  of  trial. 


132  PAETHENIA. 

Eros,  her  invisible  lover,  subjects  her  to  the  severe 
privation  of  not  beholding  his  face.  All  within  the 
palace  is  hers ;  but  it  is  not  sufficient  to  satisfy  the 
boundless  aspirations  of  a  soul ;  she  is  charmed  by 
invisible  music  and  addressed  in  the  sweetest  ac 
cents  of  love,  but,  overcome  by  melancholy  and  cu 
riosity,  she  approaches  her  invisible  husband  with  a 
lighted  lamp." 

"  Ah,"  said  Parthenia,  "  how  beautiful  she  is,  as 
she  bends  with  the  lamp  over  the  sleeping  boy,  and 
we  tremble,  because  we  see  that  the  oil  must  over 
flow  !  " 

"  Yes,  that  burning  drop  and  that  start  of  terror 
awake  the  God  of  love.  He  flies,  and  Psyche 
stretches  her  arms  imploringly  and  in  vain  after 
him." 

"She  seems  to  say,  'Take  me  with  thee;  I  am 
also  immortal ! '  "  said  Parthenia. 

"  Yes,  but  before  the  soul  is  prepared  for  immor 
tal  happiness,  it  must  pass  through  many  trials  of 
sorrow  and  repentance ;  through  many  severe  ex 
periences  of  this  human  life,  represented  in  various 
forms  upon  the  panels  by  these  servile  labors.  At 
length,  through  submissive  sorrow,  and  after  trial 
and  purification,  she  recovers  a  more  celestial  beauty, 
but  falls  into  a  deep  sleep.  Eros,  her  husband, 
awakes  her  by  sweet  music,  and  the  touch  of  his 


PARTHENIA.  133 

"  And,"  said  Parthenia,  "  as  she  is  received  again 
into  the  Olympian  heaven,  how  lovely  are  the  Graces 
and  the  Hours,  as,  in  their  mystic  dance  together, 
they  shed  roses  through  the  sky,  and  we  seem  to 
hear  the  music  of  Apollo's  lyre  as  they  sing  in 
chorus !  " 

"  Thus,  fairest  Parthenia,  the  soul  is  victorious 
over  all  trial,  and  enters  Olympus  with  the  Immor 
tals." 

"Yes,  the  soul  itself.  But  Elysium  admits  no 
female  soul." 

"  "We  must  believe  with  Plato,  that  each  soul  is 
but  a  fragment,  but  half  a  soul,  till  he  meets  the 
feminine  part  which  makes  his  perfect;  then  they 
become  one,  and  enter  Elysium  together." 

"  But  what  becomes  of  those  who  never  find  the 
soul  with  which  they  could  unite  ?  " 

"Fairest!  they  do  not  seek  aright.  To  the  de 
sire  and  pursuit  of  the  complement  of  ourselves, 
Plato  gives  the  name  of  love.  When  we  have  found 
it,  we  shall  become  one  again,  and  Elysium  is  made 
up  of  such." 

Parthenia  could  not  keep  down  a  burning  blush, 
but  she  hastened  to  say,  "But  what  an  Elysium! 
what  a  melancholy  immortality !  0,  who  would 
wish  to  descend  into  those  dismal  fields  of  which 
Homer  sings  ?  The  pale  ghosts  are  for  ever  weep- 
12 


134  PARTHENIA. 

ing  their  lost  human  life,  and  the  joyous  light  of 
the  sun ! "  And  she  turned  her  large  sad  eyes 
upon  Julian. 

"  We  must  admit,"  he  said,  "  that  the  divine 
Homer  does  not  describe  so  happy  an  immortality 
as  Plato  hopes  for  the  good  and  wise. 

Julian  had  taken  in  his  hand  a  small  golden 
lamp  in  the  form  of  Eros,  or  celestial  love,  holding 
a  butterfly  suspended  above  the  flame.  "  See," 
said  he,  "  beautiful  Parthenia,  the  profound  mean 
ing  of  this  simple  emblem.  It  represents  the  soilure 
of  matter,  and  the  suffering  of  the  soul,  purified  by 
love,  through  fire, or  the  deepest  sorrow." 

Parthenia  trembled  from  head  to  foot.  Was  this 
fiery  trial  preparing  for  herself?  Must  she  pass 
through  the  fire  ?  She  knew  not. 

Another  day,  the  Prince  turned  to  an  exquisite 
ivory  statue  of  the  youth  Narcissus  reclining  upon 
the  margin  of  the  river  Cephissos.  "See,  fairest," 
he  said,  "the  fable  of  the  seductions  of  beauty.  In 
toxicated  by  his  own  loveliness,  the  youth  forgets 
the  truer  beauty  of  the  soul.  A  cold  egotism  takes 
possession  of  him,  till  he  at  length  dissolves  into  a 
river  of  tears,  and  011  its  margin  springs  the  Nar 
cissus,  which  is  called  the  flower  of  Hades." 

"And  is  this  the  reason  Sophocles  crowns  the 
Furies,  the  Divinities  of  hell,  with  this  mournful 


PARTHENIA.  135 

flower?  I  have  never  woven  it  into  any  chaplet. 
It  seemed  to  me  to  bring  sorrow  connected  with  its 
sculptured  cup.  But,"  continued  Parthenia,  "  is  it 
not  fabled  that  Narcissus,  when  flying  from  the 
Nymph  Echo,  who  pursued  him  with  her  love, 
was  turned  into  a  river,  and  the  forsaken  Nymph 
wasted  away  till  naught  was  left  but  her  voice, 
which  may  even  now  be  heard  among  the  hills." 

But  their  talk  was  not  always  of  myths  and  fa 
bles.  Julian's  mind  was  like  a  many-sided  prism; 
he  could  throw  at  pleasure  a  coloring  of  joy  or  of 
sadness,  of  genial  humor  or  gayety,  upon  every  top 
ic,  and  as  music  was  one  of  his  passions,  he  some 
times  brought  with  him  a  master  of  the  lyre,  and 
they  sat  silent  while  the  Athenian  moon  cast  a 
more  religious  light  upon  the  statues  of  the  Gods. 

Thus  costly  hours  were  given  to  the  beautiful 
Athenian,  —  hours  which  he  redeemed  by  whole 
nights  of  study ;  ah !  too  costly  for  the  peace  of  Par 
thenia,  for  she  gave  in  exchange  the  rich  treasures 
of  her  virgin  heart. 

With  hours  and  days  too  swiftly  winged,  the 
Prince  had  counted  six  months  in  the  city  of  Pal 
las.  They  were  the  happiest  of  his  life.  For  be 
sides  his  admiration  of  the  character  of  the  Athe 
nians, — "  they  were  the  only  people,"  he  said,  "who 
in  word  and  deed  practised  justice," — he  lived  open- 


136  PARTHENIA. 

ly  under  the  protection  of  his  Heathen  Deities.  It 
was  true  that  he  was  surrounded  with  spies,  not 
withstanding  the  secret  efforts  of  the  Empress  to 
change  these  spies  into  concealed  friends,  who  would 
warn  rather  than  betray. 

She  had  endeavored  to  keep  awake  in  the  mind 
of  her  husband  a  favorable  recollection  of  Julian, 
persuading  him  that  the  Prince  was  a  youth  of  an 
unambitious  temper,  whose  allegiance  and  gratitude 
might  be  secured  by  the  gift  of  the  purple ;  that  he 
would  be  content  to  fill  a  subordinate  station,  with 
out  aspiring  to  overshadow  the  glories  of  his  bene 
factor;  and  as  Constantius  for  the  first  time  sin 
cerely  acknowledged  that  his  single  strength  was 
unequal  to  such  an  extent  of  care  and  dominion,  it 
was  resolved  that  the  Prince  should  be  recalled 
from  Athens,  and  that,  after  celebrating  his  mar 
riage  with  the  sister  of  the  Emperor,  lie  should  be 
appointed,  with  the  title  of  Ca3sar,  to  rule  over  the 
countries  beyond  the  Alps. 

After  an  obstinate,  but  secret,  struggle  with  the 
favorite  eunuch,  the  Empress  succeeded  in  having 
a  small  guard  of  honor  appointed  to  conduct  him 
to  Milan. 

"  Now  all  the  Gods  come  to  our  aid ! "  said  Li- 
banius,  when  this  guard,  which  had  secretly  arrived 
in  Athens,  made  itself  known  to  him ;  "  for  how  will 


PARTHENIA.  137 

his  great  spirit  meet  and  conquer  this  cruel  con 
tradiction  of  all  his  cherished  hopes  ?  " 

Julian  himself  says,  years  afterwards,  that  "  he 
groaned,  and  sobbed,  and  wept."  These  tears  do 
not  convict  him  of  cowardice  or  weakness.  Athens 
had  become  to  him  what  Rome  has  been  to  so  many 
others,  in  later  years,  the  home  of  orphaned  hearts. 
It  was  also  his  bitterest  enemy,  the  assassin  of  his 
whole  family,  who  had  recalled  him,  and  to  what 
a  destiny !  —  to  dwell  with  informers,  slanderers, 
and  enemies,  thirsting  for  his  destruction,  and,  cru 
ellest  of  all,  to  wed  Helena,  the  sister  of  the  wife 
of  Gallus,  who  is  described  by  historians  as  like 
one  of  the  infernal  Furies,  thirsting  for  blood. 

It  was  the  morning  of  the  day  on  which  Julian 
was  to  leave  Athens.  The  steps  of  the  Acropolis 
were  yet  wet  with  dew,  and  the  hyacinths  sent  up, 
from  their  freshly  opened  calyces,  the  perfume  of  the 
early  dawn,  when  the  Prince  ascended  the  hill  and 
stretched  his  arms  towards  his  own  Pallas  Athena. 
He  prayed,  but  he  dared  not  look  towards  the  dwell 
ing  of  Parthenia.  Ah !  was  he  not  leaving  there  in 
that  little  spot,  scarcely  discerned  in  the  morning 
twilight,  the  wine  of  his  life,  the  lovely  muse  who 
had  left  her  sisters  to  be  the  inspiration  of  his  be 
ing  ?  Had  she  not  woven  for  him  a  wreatli  of  joy 
12* 


138  PARTHENIA. 

richer  than  all  others,  and,  as  the  flowers  fell  away, 
would  not  the  thorn  remain  for  ever  with  him? 

He  turned  towards  Hymettus,  which  lay  hushed 
beneath  the  transparent  sky ;  he  traced  the  winding 
course  of  the  Ilissus,  and,  beyond  the  walls,  the 
olive  groves  of  Plato's  Academy,  where  all  but  the 
most  precious  hours  of  his  life  in  Athens  had  been 
spent ;  then  he  looked  along  the  sacred  way  to  Eleu- 
sis,  where  a  few  days  before  he  had  been  initiated 
into  the  most  holy  of  the  mysteries  of  his  religion ; 
and  as  he  turned  again  towards  Athens,  he  saw  the 
spray  of  the  fountain  rising  above  the  shrubs  in 
Partlienia's  little  court.  This  drew  a  sharp  cry 
from  his  heart,  —  he  had  no  more  tears  to  weep. 

Slowly  the  Prince  took  the  path  to  Parthenia's 
dwelling.  Guta  met  him  at  the  door.  "  By  all 
the  Infernal  Gods ! "  she  cried,  "  what  has  hap 
pened  ? " 

"Has  the  shield  fallen  from  the  arm  of  Athena?  " 
asked  Parthenia.  "  You  wear  the  color  of  misfor 
tune,  Prince.  Minerva  protect  you  from  calamity ! " 

"  It  has  already  come,"  he  said ;  "  this  day  I  must 
leave  Athens ! " 

Parthenia  felt  her  knees  sink  under  her,  the  pale 
ivory  of  her  cheek  became  a  deathly  white,  and  she 
shook  in  every  limb.  She  did  not  attempt  to  speak. 
She  did  not  feign. 


PARTHENIA.  139 

Julian  turned  away,  and  a  pang,  like  the  thrust 
of  a  poignard,  shot  through  his  heart.  It  was  one 
of  the  strokes  of  their  Nemesis,  in  which  both  be 
lieved.  Blind  fate  had  smitten  them  both;  what 
could  they  do  but  be  silent  and  submit?  The 
Prince  turned  to  her  again,  —  and  the  expression  of 
his  face  remained  for  ever  in  her  memory.  "  All  is 
past  now,"  he  said.  "  The  immortal  Gods  for  ever 
bless  you ! " 

Guta  came  near,  and,  placing  her  arms  around 
Parthenia,  drew  her  head  down  upon  her  breast. 
"  Weep,"  she  whispered,  "  weep,  my  darling !  tears 
will  do  you  good;  the  burden  of  silent  grief  is  too 
heavy  for  you  to  bear." 

Parthenia  was  roused ;  pride,  which  never  fails  a 
woman,  came  to  her  aid ;  she  held  out  her  hand  to 
the  Prince  ;  he  knelt  on  one  knee,  and  pressed  it 
between  both  of  his.  Neither  dared  to  speak.  And 
thus  they  parted. 


140 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

THE  COURT  OF  CONSTANTIUS. 

JULIAN  with  his  escort  had  completed  their  voy 
age,  and  landed  at  one  of  the  ports  of  the  Adriatic. 
The  rest  of  the  journey  was  by  land.  At  Milan  the 
Emperor  still  held  his  gorgeous  but  effeminate  court. 
It  was  an  afternoon  in  autumn,  when  the  little 
cortege  of  guards,  few  in  number,  and  without 
splendor,  preceding  the  carriage  of  the  Prince,  ap 
proached  the  gates  of  Milan.  A  strict  incognito 
had  been  preserved  throughout  the  journey,  and 
Julian's  fretful  spirit  was  continually  chafed  by  the 
locking  of  the  carriage  door  by  the  leader  of  the 
guard,  thus  making  prisoners  of  himself,  of  his  phy 
sician,  and  his  faithful  Mardonius. 

The  setting  sun.  shone  upon  the  towers  of  Milan, 
and  the  whole  plain  of  Lombardy  was  bathed  in 
that  magic  light  which,  in  the  climate  of  Italy,  and 
rarely  in  our  own,  precedes  its  withdrawal.  Ju 
lian,  a  lover  of  nature,  felt  the  hour ;  his  heart  was 


PARTHENIA.  141 

softened.  He  recalled  the  same  hour  in  Athens, 
when  he  had  so  often  watched  from  the  rock  of  the 
Acropolis  the  tender  veil  of  darkness  silently  drawn 
over  the  landscape.  His  abstraction  prevented  him 
from  seeing  that  a  carriage  approached,  escorted  by 
only  two  servants.  It  was  plain  and  open,  and  a 
lady  in  an  easy  attitude  reclined  within. 

As  it  drew  nearer,  Julian  knew  that  it  was  the 
Empress,  and  that  she  had  obtained  leave  to  meet 
him  thus  publicly,  was  an  assurance  that  no  open 
hostility  was  intended  towards  him.  He  kissed  re 
spectfully  the  hand  of  his  benefactress.  "  Now 
Minerva  protect  you!"  he  cried.  "What  God  or 
Goddess  has  put  it  into  your  heart  to  come  thus  to 
bless  an  outcast  —  " 

"Hush!"  said  Eusebia,  "we  owe  nothing  to 
God  or  Goddess.  The  good  Being  who  watches 
over  us  has  put  it  into  my  heart  to  love  you.  Come 
into  my  carriage,  and  we  will  enter  the  palace  in 
the  face  of  the  whole  court." 

"  And  shall  I  see  the  Emperor  ?  "  asked  Julian, 
turning  pale,  not  with  fear,  but  with  emotion  at  the 
recollection  of  Gallus. 

"  The  saints  forbid  that  he  should  see  you  in  this 
garb!"  said  the  Empress,  looking  at  his  cloak  of 
dark  cloth,  his  long  beard,  and  sandals  of  leather. 

"  The  philosopher's  robe  is  certainly  becoming," 
said  Julian. 


142  PARTHENIA. 

"  The  courtiers,  with  their  heavy  embroidery, 
their  jewels,  their  perfumes  and  flowers,  their  gaudy 
colors,  would  deride  and  ridicule  the  dark  robe  of 
my  philosopher;  and  these  hands,"  said  the  Em 
press,  with  a  smile,  "  must  wash  away  their  ink- 
stains  before  they  don  their  jewelled  rings." 

"  Pshaw !  are  these  hands  made  for  jewels?  "  he 
cried  ".But,  noble  Princess,  by  all  the  Gods,  I 
adjure  you  to  tell  me  what  is  the  meaning  of  this 
mandate  of  recall.  Thus  was  Gallus  summoned : 
and  his  image,  bleeding  and  slain,  is  ever  present 
with  me." 

"  Banish  it,  Prince !  We  have  conquered  the 
eunuch.  Beside,  Constantius  needs  your  help. 
The  Empire  is  too  unwieldy  for  the  brain  or  the 
hands  of  one  man.  The  Barbarians  are  pressing 
upon  the  North.  The  Emperor  will  give  you  the 
purple,  and  attach  you  to  himself  by  every  bond." 

"Now  the  Gods  forbid !  How  can  there  be  peace 
or  union  between  the  assassin  and  myself?"  and 
Julian  rose,  as  though  he  would  throw  himself  from 
the  carriage. 

The  Empress  caught  his  arm.  "  Madman !  "  she 
cried,  "  is  this  your  philosophy  ?  "Will  you  expose 
yourself  to  these  talebearers  around  us  ?  Listen !  " 
and  the  Empress  detailed  the  plan  of  the  Emperor, 
of  sending  him  with  an  army  to  Gaul  and  the  Dan- 


PARTHENIA.  1-13 

nbe.  "  But  first,"  she  said,  and  she  turned  her 
penetrating  eyes  full  upon  him,  "  he  will  bind  you 
to  himself  by  a  bond  stronger  and  more  enduring 
than  the  purple  robe  of  the  Cassars."  * 

Julian  cast  down  his  eyes.     He  trembled. 

"  In  short,  it  must  come,  Prince !  "  the  Empress 
continued.  "  Nemesis  is  stronger  than  you  or  I. 
The  Emporor  will  give  you  his  sister  Helena  for  a 
companion ! " 

Julian  crimsoned,  and  then  became  pale  as  death. 
"Never!"  he  cried.  "0  Immortal  Gods!  forbid 
that  the  sister  of  the  fiend  he  gave  to  poor  Gallus 
should  ever  be  companion  of  mine !" 

The  Empress  took  his  hand  and  pressed  it  kindly. 
"  There  is  only  one  course  for  you,  my  cousin ;  that 
of  absolute  submission.  You  are  alone !  The 
only  friend  who  adheres  to  you  in  the  court  of  the 
Emperor,  is  sitting  by  your  side  ;  what  other  course 
can  you  take  with  the  smallest  hope  of  safety  ?  " 

Julian  pressed  his  lips  upon  the  hand  of  the  Em 
press.  "Only  friend;  ah!  yes,  I  know  thou  art. 
Obtain  for  me,  then,  through  thy  blessed  influence, 
that  I  may  retreat  into  obscurity,  —  that  I  may  re 
turn  to  the  city  of  Pallas,  to  the  study  of  philos 
ophy,  to  the  ever  fresh  delight  the  poets  give,  with 
Homer  as  their  leader,  —  and  I  will  gladly  leave 
the  world  to  Constantius." 


144  PABTHENIA. 

The  Empress  turned  a  half-melancholy,  half-sus 
picious  glance  upon  him,  beneath  which  his  eyes 
sank.  There  were  indeed  obstacles  to  unreserved 
confidence  between  them;  the  JSmpr^ss  was  a  sin 
cere,  though  not  a  fanatical  Christian,  and  Julian 
in  Athens  had  turned  openly  from  Christianity, 
and  waited  only  a  more  favorable  moment  to  make 
his  apostasy  known  elsewhere.  They  were  both  si 
lent  during  the  rest  of  the  drive.  Eusebia's  beau 
tiful  brow  wore  a  shade  of  care,  and  the  Prince 
seemed  not  yet  assured,  but  sat  calm,  gathering 
his  fortitude  for  some  terrible  encounter. 

They  turned  aside  from  the  palace,  and  Julian's 
brow  cleared  when  he  found  he  was  not  taken  to 
the  prison  lie  had  occupied  before  he  was  sent  to 
Greece,  but  that  a  spacious  suit  of  rooms  had  been 
prepared  for  him.  Eusebia  left  him  at  the  door. 
He  kissed  her  hand  with  fervent  gratitude,  which 
was  inexpressibly  augmented,  when,  examining  his 
room,  he  found  that  she  had  selected  with  her  own 
exquisite  taste  a  superb  library  for  him,  consisting 
of  all  the  most  celebrated  philosophers  and  poets  of 
Greece.  His  own  librarian  was  already  there,  tak 
ing  the  beautiful  rolls  from  their  cases,  so  that  Ju 
lian  at  a  glance  might  admire  the  costly  copies. 
Oribasius,  his  physician,  who  enjoyed  his  entire  con 
fidence,  was  also  there,  and  Mardonius  would  soon 
follow. 


PARTHENIA.  145 

No  attendants  were  allowed  him  except  two 
young  boys,  wlio  served  as  pages,  and  were  the  me 
dium  of  communication  between  the  Empress  and 
himself.  He  had  not  been  permitted  to  see  the 
Emperor.  The  eunuchs  well  knew  that  an  inter 
view  would  be  a  guarantee  of  safety ;  they  therefore 
exerted  every  artifice  to  prevent  the  Emperor  from 
granting  him  an  audience. 

He  was  left  to  contend  alone  with  the  difficulties 
of  his  position.  In  the  solitude  and  darkness  of 
night  he  traversed  the  apartment,  and  the  longer 
he  thought  upon  his  position,  the  more  terrible  was 
the  aspect  it  assumed.  Should  he  surrender  him 
self  to  the  will  of  his  enemy,  form  a  closer  iiriion 
with  him  by  taking  the  wife  he  offered  him,  and 
crush  for  ever  the  fair  hope  of  the  future  which  he 
had  formed  in  Athens  ?  He  yearned  for  that  home 
of  the  soul,  as  it  arose  again  in  memory  touched 
with  deeper  hues  from  distance  and  uncertainty. 

Eusebia  had  bidden  him  to  write  to  her  when  his 
decision  was  made.  He  placed  the  waxen  tablets 
before  him,  and  as  he  paced  the  apartment,  from  the 
statue  of  Minerva  to  the  place  where  the  stylus  in 
vited  him,  he  murmured  forth  his  prayers.  After 
a  while  he  began  and  finished  his  letter,  in  which 
he  besought  the  Empress  to  obtain  leave  for  him  to 
return  to  Greece,  or  to  private  life  upon  his  own 

13 


146  PARTHENIA. 

estate,  which  he  had  inherited  from  his  mother. 
"  As  you  comply  with  my  wishes,"  he  said,  "  may 
the  Immortal  Gods  bless  you  with  the  fruition  of  all 
yours.  May  they  give  you  children  and  heirs  to 
take  the  place  you  would  bestow  upon  me,  and,  no 
ble  friend,  send  me  immediately  from  you." 

When  Julian  had  finished  his  letter,  he  felt  for 
some  moments  a  degree  of  calmness ;  but  soon  the 
struggle  renewed  itself  in  his  soul.  "  Shall  I  oppose 
the  Gods,"  he  said,  "  or  imagine  I  can  judge  for 
myself  better  than  they,  who  know  all  things  ?  " 
He  turned  to  the  statue  of  Minerva,  and  besought 
an  answer  to  his  prayer.  To  his  excited  mind  he 
seemed  to  hear  a  whispered  voice  which  said,  "  It 
is  enough  for  human  wisdom  to  discern  the  trivial 
events  of  the  present  moment.  The  counsels  of  the 
Gods  embrace  the  whole.  To  them  the  most  dis 
tant  future,  as  well  as  the  most  remote  past,  is  now 
present.  As  they  are  the  cause  of  both  past  and 
future,  must  they  not  necessarily  be  acquainted 
with  the  present?" 

"  Counsel  me,  then,"  said  Julian,  "  0  ye  august 
Deities!  who  behold  my  divided  mind.  Blessed 
Minerva,  send  one  of  the  angels  of  the  sun,  or  the 
moon,  to  declare  thy  will." 

Again  he  seemed  to  hear  a  whispered  voice  which 
said,  "  And  thon !  tliou  who  pretendest  to  be  a 


PARTHENIA.  147 

man  and  wouldst  steal  thyself  away  from  the  Gods, 
who  have  great  designs  through  thee  for  that  future 
to  which  tliou  refusest  to  give  thyself !  This  is  fol 
ly  !  This  is  cowardice  !  " 

Julian,  confounded,  said,  "  Shall  I  then  cringe 
and  yield  to  avoid  this  death,  or,  like  Socrates, 
commit  everything  to  the  Gods,  possessing,  wish 
ing  nothing,  but  cheerfully  casting-  my  care  upon 
them."  * 

Having  brought  himself  to  this  state  of  complete 
acquiescence,  trusting  in  the  Gods,  borrowing  a 
phrase  from  the  Christian  Scriptures,  which  had 
become  familiar  to  him  when  he  was  a  reader  in  the 
Church,  lie  felt  a  singular  degree  of  calmness  de 
scending  into  his  soul.  Under  its  influence  he  de 
stroyed  the  letter  he  had  written  to  the  Empress, 
and,  throwing  himself  upon  the  couch,  lie  slept  till 
morning. 

The  next  morning,  the  6th  of  November,  was  the 
birthday  of  the  Prince.  He  entered  upon  his  twenty- 
fifth  year.  He  hailed  it  as  a  good  omen  that  the 
sun  rose  clear  and  beautiful,  for  the  short  autumn 
day  was  to  be  filled  by  a  brilliant  pageantry. 

Constantius,  who  no  longer  consulted  the  Senate 
in  the  choice  of  his  colleague,  had  appointed  this 
day  to  present  Julian  to  the  court  and  the  army  as 

*  1  Peter  v.  7. 


148  PARTHENIA. 

his  clioscn  partner  in  the  cares  of  the  Empire,  and 
in  the  presence  of  the  multitude  to  array  him  in 
the  purple  robe  of  the  Ca3sars. 

Julian  was  scarcely  awake  when  a  crowd,  assem 
bled  on  the  outside  of  his  apartment,  claimed  en 
trance  in  the  name  of  the  Emperor.  The  Prince 
ordered  his  pages  to  throw  open  the  doors,  and  im 
mediately  the  court-barber  presented  himself;  a 
small,  effeminate-looking  African,  in  his  silken  em 
broidered  robes,  his  gorgeous  turban,  and  jewelled 
slippers.  He  was  followed  by  servants  with  per 
fumes,  unguents,  scented  waters,  and  all  the  exqui 
site  aids  for  a  complete  toilette,  which  this  luxu 
rious  court  exacted  of  those  who  would  enjoy  the 
favor  of  Constantius.  The  room  was  soon  filled 
with  a  crowd  which  excited  in  the  philosophic 
Prince  only  contempt. 

The  officer  next  under  the  chief  barber  displayed 
his  golden  basin,  his  razors  and  embroidered  nap 
kin.  "  What,"  said  Julian,  "  are  you  ordered  to 
present  me  with  the  mark  of  the  tonsure  ?  I  have 
decided  objections  to  all  the  insignia  of  monkism." 

"  No,  noble  Prince,  Venus  forbid  that  we  should 
touch  the  flowing  honors  of  your  head,  except  to 
make  them  more  graceful  and  becoming ;  but  no 
one  can  enter  the  court  with  that  outward  sign  of 
the  philosopher,"  indicating  Julian's  thick  beard. 


PARTHENIA.  149 

"  The  sign  of  wisdom  is  not,  as  formerly,  worn  on 
the  chin,  but  on  the  head." 

"  As  the  sign  of  folly  is  sometimes  worn  there, 
in  lengthened  ears,"  said  Julian. 

"  Folly  has  many  signs,  and  none  more  striking 
than  the  affectation  of  singularity  in  dress,"  said 
the  barber. 

Julian  had  resigned  himself  to  all ;  he  therefore 
submitted  without  another  word.  Soon  were  the 
shaggy  honors  of  his  chin  removed,  and  the  win 
ning  expression  of  his  lips,  so  long  concealed  be 
neath  the  moustache,  rendered  his  physiognomy  far 
more  attractive  to  every  lover  of  the  human  coun 
tenance.  His  hair  was  then  curled  and  perfumed ; 
the  inky  stains  effaced  from  his  hands  with  scented 
water,  and  precious  jewels,  the  gift  of  Constantius, 
placed  upon  his  fingers.  Now  he  was  requested  to 
put  on  a  complete  suit  of  armor,  of  burnished  metal, 
which  flashed  back  the  sunbeams  that  entered  the 
high  windows  of  the  apartment. 

Thus  arrayed,  Julian  went  forth  to  meet,  for  the 
first  time,  the  man  whom  he  had  ever  regarded  as 
his  deadliest  enemy.  He  had  never  before  worn  ar 
mor,  for  his  pursuits  had  been  peaceful  and  literary ; 
he  felt,  therefore,  an  invincible  awkwardness,  an  in 
stinctive  modesty,  which  made  him  cast  his  eyes  to 
the  ground,  instead  of  taking  upon  himself  those 

13* 


150  PARTHENIA. 

court  airs  and  that  insolent  bearing,  the  fashion  of 
the  time. 

As  the  Prince  passed  through  the  antechambers 
crowded  with  the  satellites,  the  eunuchs,  the  ef 
feminate  loungers,  clad  in  silken  robes,  whose  every 
motion  sent  out  a  perfume  which  sickened  the 
healthy  senses  of  Julian,  he  became  the  mark  of 
covert  sneers  and  sarcasms. 

"  Are  we  to  have  a  masquerade  to-day,"  said  one, 
"  that  Apollo  appears  in  the  armor  of  Hercules  ?  " 

"Apollo  has  met  with  the  fate  of  Yulcan,"  said 
another,  "  and  his  fall  from  Heaven  has  robbed  him 
of  grace." 

"  Now,  by  Venus !  our  hero  of  to-day  is  too  much 
an  anchorite  to  represent  the  Divinity  of  Lemnos." 

Their  idle  sarcasms  were  soon  checked  by  the 
appearance  of  the  Emperor  and  Empress  to  mount 
their  chariot. 

The  public  square  was  filled  with  an  excited 
crowd.  The  troops  were  drawn  out  in  front  of  a 
gorgeous  tent,  in  which  stood  a  throne  for  the  Em 
peror  and  Empress,  guarded  by  the  Roman  eagles. 
The  brilliant  sun  of  Italy  flashed  back  from  the 
burnished  armor  of  the  troops,  touched  with  light 
the  golden  eagles,  and  heightened  the  brilliant  colors 
of  the  tent,  while  the  impatient  multitude  swayed 
forwards  and  backwards,  trying  in  vain  to  encroach 
upon  the  open  area  in  front  of  the  throne. 


PARTHENIA.  151 

At  length  the  trumpets  gave  note  of  the  slow 
approach  of  the  Emperor,  whose  impatient  horses 
were  kept  back  to  a  slow  pace,  that  the  multitude 
might  enjoy  the  gorgeous  array  of  Constantius,  his 
robes  heavy  and  stiff  with  embroidery  and  jewels. 
By  his  side  sat  the  Empress,  whose  beauty  was 
scarcely  heightened  by  the  priceless  jewels  of  her 
dress.  In  a  plain  chariot  drawn  by  two  horses,  with 
his  two  young  pages,  who  sat  at  his  feet,  Julian 
followed.  He  was  pale  as  death.  In  his  inmost 
soul  was  concealed  the  thought  that  this  pageant 
would  end,  not  in  his  honor,  but  in  his  death.  He 
sat  mentally  repeating  the  verses  of  his  favorite 
Homer. 

When  the  tent  was  reached,  the  Emperor  and  Em 
press  ascended  the  throne,  and  Julian,  descending 
from  his  chariot,  knelt  before  them.  Constantius, 
taking  him  by  the  hand,  presented  him  to  the  army. 
"  Behold,"  he  said,  "  I  present  you  my  well-beloved 
cousin,  the  son  of  my  adoption,  the  partner  of  my 
cares,  the  colleague  to  whom  I  intrust  a  share  of 
the  interests  of  this  Empire.  Threatened  as  we  are 
with  dangers  on  every  side,  the  weight  of  responsi 
bility  is  too  heavy  for  one  grown  old  in  your  ser 
vice.  The  presence  of  the  Emperor  is  required, 
both  in  the  east  and  in  the  west ;  the  single  strength 
of  a  man  is  unequal  to  such  an  extent  of  do- 


152  PARTHENIA. 

A  respectful  murmur  ran  through  the  army  and 
among  the  multitude.  The  Emperor  understood  it 
as  a  more  sincere  expression  of  opinion  than  that 
voice  of  flattery  which  continued  to  assure  him  that 
his  all-powerful  virtues,  and  his  celestial  fortunes, 
would  for  ever  triumph  over  every  obstacle. 

Presenting  Julian  anew,  he  asked,  "Is  it  your 
pleasure  that  the  Prince  should  receive  the  purple, 
the  title  of  Caesar,  and  a  partition  of  the  cares  of 
the  Empire  ?  "  Immediately  a  shout  rent  the  air. 
The  soldiers  dashed  their  shields  against  their  armed 
knees,  then  raised  them  on  high,  uttering  prolonged 
shouts  of  joy  and  exultation.  For  the  first  time 
Julian  looked  up :  his  countenance  lightened,  joy 
flashed  from  his  dark  eye,  and  a  noble  pride  glowed 
from  his  cheek ;  his  height  seemed  greater,  and  his 
whole  bearing  majestic. 

The  purple  robe  was  now  brought,  and  Constan- 
tius  himself  placed  it  upon  his  shoulders.  He  was 
invited  to  return  to  the  palace  in  the  same  chariot 
with  the  Emperor,  and  amid  the  shouts  and  rejoic 
ing  of  the  excited  multitude  they  left  the  field  to 
gether.  The  crowd  was  so  dense  that  their  progress 
was  very  slow,  and,  as  Julian  sat  side  by  side  with 
his  deadliest  foe,  those  lines  of  Homer  again  re 
curred  to  him,  — 

"  The  purple  hand  of  death  closed  his  dim  eyes, 
And  fate  suppressed  his  breath." 


PARTHENIA.  153 

His  apprehensions  were  increased,  when,  instead 
of  returning  by  the  grand  staircase  of  the  palace, 
where  the  imperial  guards  were  drawn  up,  he  was 
conducted  to  a  distant  wing,  where  a  suit  of  rooms 
had  been  prepared  for  the  Caesar  very  remote  from 
her  whom  he  regarded  as  his  only  friend  in  the 
palace  of  the  Emperor. 

Julian  threw  himself  upon  the  divan,  excited  by 
the  crowding  and  changing  emotions  through  which 
he  had  passed.  In  moments  of  high  exaltation  or 
of  sudden  good  fortune  he  believed  himself  the 
special  favorite  of  the  Immortals.  Now  they  had 
opened  a  career  for  him,  and  there  dawned  upon  his 
mind  visions  of  the  future,  in  which  he  saw,  through 
his  wise  rule,  and  throughout  his  whole  government, 
justice  made  supreme ;  rapacity  should  cease ;  the 
rich  should  no  longer  oppress  the  poor  ;  the  golden 
age  should  return  upon  earth.  Then  fairer  visions 
rose.  The  temples  of  the  heathen  Gods  were  to  be 
restored  to  more  magnificent  perfection;  a  purely 
refined  worship  established.  The  glorious  arts  of 
Greece  should  adorn  the  processions,  crowding  and 
thronging  the  temples ;  music,  dancing,  and  the 
Olympic  games  should  be  revived.  There  should 
be  a  temple  to  Helios,  or  the  sun,  where  no  beast 
should  bleed,  but  fruits  and  flowers,  songs  and  mu 
sic,  and  the  productions  of  human  genius,  should  be 


154  PARTHENIA. 

collected  as  offerings  to  the  vivifying  and  life-giving 
God. 

He  started  from  his  couch  and  paced  the  apart 
ment.  "  Grant  mo,  O  Immortal  Gods  !  "  he  cried, 
"  but  ten  years  of  life,  and  every  temple  shall  be  re 
stored.  Upon  every  height  shall  rise  new,  immor 
tal  structures ;  in  every  valley  shall  bloom  the  gar 
dens  of  Plato,  the  groves  of  the  Muses.  Lyric 
hymns,  processions  of  virgins,  of  noble  youths  and 
white-haired  old  men,  all  shall  hymn  thy  praises. 
In.  gold,  in  ivory,  and  in  whitest  marble,  the  Gods 
shall  stand,  looking  with  serene  eyes  over  the  deep 
blue  waters  and  the  rejoicing  land." 

As  he  thus  paced  his  apartment,  where  stood  the 
statues  of  the  great  men  of  every  age,  his  steps  were 
arrested  by  that  of  Christ,  which  was  common  in 
Christian  houses.  The  Prince  stopped  and  gazed 
upon  it, — the  serene  brow,  the  meek  and  patient 
lip,  the  downcast  eye,  whose  lid  seemed  swelled  with 
pitying  tears.  "Ah!"  he  cried,  "the  Galilean!  the 
abject  one !  the  crucified !  shall  he  dare  to  place 
Calvary  above  Olympus,  and  conquer  by  the  cross?" 
Doubt,  like  an  ice-bolt,  passed  through  his  mind; 
for  the  moment  he  recognized  the  strength  there  is 
in  meekness,  the  patient  endurance  and  the  ex 
alted  faith  of  the  lowly. 

On  the  following  morning,  the  Prince's  devotions 


PARTHENIA.  155 

to  Helios  and  the  lesser  Divinities  being  duly  per 
formed,  lie  attempted  an  egress  from  his  luxurious 
apartment,  but  found  himself  still  a  prisoner.  At 
this  moment  Oribasius,  his  physician,  entered,  with 
his  usually  serene  countenance  somewhat  over 
clouded. 

"  Noble  friend,"  said  Julian,  "  let  no  discontent 
come  near  us.  Let  us  bring  Athens  and  Olympus 
into  our  smaller  compass." 

"  Ah !  but  we  can  carry  nothing  out.  As  I  at 
tempted  to  go  forth,  I  was  arrested  by  the  guard, 
and  searched;  no  letter,  no  note  or  message,  may 
go  out  from  you  to  friends." 

"  Friends !  Alas !  they  do  but  just  admit  the  plu 
ral  number,  and  are  contained  in  this  apartment ; 
for  there  is  the  noble  Euemerus  delighting  himself 
with  the  Empress's  splendid  gifts.  But  my  learned 
seer,  prophet,  interpreter  of  dreams,  listen  to  mine. 
Does  not  the  divine  Homer  tell  us  there  are  two 
portals  from  which  issue  dreams  ?  Tell  me,  you 
whose  prophetic  insight  is  clear,  which  is  the  true." 

"  Did  your  dream  proceed  from  the  ivory  gate, 
whence  issues  the  light,  fantastic  train  of  winged 
lies  ? " 

"  Ah,  no !  the  images  of  truth  come  from  the 
opaque  horny  portal.  But  you  shall  hear,  and 
Minerva  give  you  wisdom  to  interpret." 


156  PAKTHENIA. 

"  JEsculapius  rather,"  said  Oribasius,  "  the  inter 
preter  of  dreams." 

"  Listen,"  said  the  Prince.  "  A  lofty  tree  grew, 
as  I  thought,  in  a  spacious  hall,  with  its  branches 
bending  down  to  touch  the  ground.  From  its  root 
sprouted  another,  small  and  young  and  very  flour 
ishing.  For  this  small  plant  I  felt  intensely  anxious 
lest  it  should  be  uprooted,  together  with  the  tree. 
Approaching  nearer,  I  saw  the  large  tree  already 
fallen  to  the  earth." 

"  And  how  was  it  with  the  smaller  one  ?  " 

"  Ah !  I  feared  it  was  destroyed  also.  But  it 
stood  aloft,  green  and  flourishing.  Then  I  ex 
claimed,  What  a  downfall  is  this  !  and  will  not  all, 
root  and  branch,  perish  together  ?  But  a  stranger 
stood  near,  who  said  to  me,  Be  not  afraid  ;  observe 
it  with  attention  ;  the  root  remains  in  the  ground  ; 
the  plant  is  yet  unhurt,  and  will  spread  itself  around 
and  flourish  more  firmly.' " 

"  He  who  stood  near  you  was  not  a  stranger.  It 
was  rather  the  faithful  friend  who  now  stands  by 
you,  and  thus  interprets  your  dream,"  said  Oriba 
sius. 

"  Then  what  mean  these  guards,  and  this  strict 
imprisonment?-"  asked  the  Prince. 

"  Rather  this  luxurious  apartment,  and  this 
sumptuous  repast,"  said  the  physician ;  for  slaves 


PARTHENIA.  157 

began  to  prepare,  with  golden  covers,  and  jewelled 
cups,  and  the  luxury  which  the  Emperors  had  bor 
rowed  from  the  East,  a  repast  for  Julian  and  his 
two  friends. 

"  Will  Constantius  make  me  an  effeminate  min 
ion  of  his  court  by  feasting  and  wine  ?  Jupiter  for 
bid  ! " 

"  He  has  already  shorn  you  of  the  outward  insig 
nia  of  a  man,"  said  Oribasius,  touching  his  beard. 

"  By  the  Gods !  "  said  Julian,  "  I  will  be  a  man, 
not  only  in  brain,  but  in  cheeks  and  chin." 

"  Enjoy  the  good  things  the  Gods  send  you  at 
this  hour,"  said  Oribasius,  turning  to  the  repast, 
and  inviting  Julian  to  join  him. 

"  Bah  !  I  have  always  hated  luxury,  as  much  as 
a  debtor  hates  the  Forum,"  said  Julian. 

"  Let  us  not  neglect  this  pure  ruby  blood  of  the 
grape,"  said  the  temperate  Oribasius.  "  Apollo 
himself  would  not  despise  this  pure  nectar." 

Julian  had  fallen  into  a  reverie. 

"Let  not  Minerva  wait,"  said  Oribasius,  "till 
Momus  opens  the  portal  — " 

"  Ah  !  how  happy  should  I  have  been,"  said  the 
Prince,  "to  have  sung  for  the  Muses  and  myself 
alone ;  but  now  it  will  be  as  dishonorable  to  cul 
tivate  poetry,  as  it  was  in  former  times  to  be  un 
justly  rich." 

u 


158  PAETHENIA. 

"Remember  your  dream.  A  life  of  action  is 
now  your  destiny!  You  have  no  longer  a  choice." 

"  I  would  have  brought  again  the  pure  Castalian 
fountains  to  the  lips  of  the  faithful —  " 

"  Let  us  rather  carry  our  own  lips  to  these  gen 
erous  wines,  and  make  them  fountains  of  wisdom." 

"  True,"  said  Julian,  "  the  beautiful  cannot  die, 
and  wisdom  is  as  immortal  as  Athena." 

They  placed  themselves  upon  the  couches  at  the 
luxurious  table,  and  were  served  by  the  two  pages. 

Julian  hated  all  superfluous  luxury,  as  much  as 
he  loved  choice  spirits  and  congenial  friends  around 
his  board.  A  few  moments  sufficed  for  his  repast, 
which  consisted  of  fruit  or  pulse,  and  water.  He 
now  took  only  a  portion  of  bread  and  a  cup  of  wine, 
and  looked  upon  the  whole  with  anger.  "  Here 
have  I,"  said  he,  "  been  preaching  abstemiousness 
for  twenty  years,  to  be  shut  up  at  last  and  fed,  as 
though  I  were  to  be  exhibited  for  my  obesity. 
There  is  but  one  more  degradation  — " 

At  this  moment  Euemerus,  the  librarian,  entered. 
He  was  pale  with  anger,  and  strove  in  vain  to  ap 
pear  unconcerned. 

"  What  has  disturbed  the  serenity  of  my  learned 
friend  ?  "  asked  Julian. 

"  We  are  treated  like  thieves  or  conspirators," 
he  cried,  "  searched  at  the  door,  and  compelled  to 


PARTHENIA.  159 

give  over  to  slaves  all  but  tlie  bare  robe  from  our 
back.  It  is  the  work  of  the  imbecile  eunuchs ; 
they  are  mad  with  rage  and  envy  ;  they  have  filled 
every  office  of  this  house  with  their  spies  and  trai 
tors.  Their  perfumes  are  sickening,  their  viands 
disgusting,  their  luxury  enervating.  There  is  only 
one  thing  here  that  is  welcome,  Nature's  precious 
offering  of  flowers,"  —  and  he  took  a  vase  of  costly 
flowers  from  the  hands  of  the  page  who  was  pre 
senting  them. 

"  If  the  Prince  pleases,"  said  the  boy,  "  the  Em 
press  desires  him  to  wear  this  chaplet  at  supper." 

Julian  started,  and  examined  the  flowers  closely ; 
he  found  that  Eusebia  had  resorted  to  this  expe 
dient  to  inform  him  that  his  betrothal  with  the 
Princess  Helena  would  take  place  the  following  day. 

"  Truly,  noble  friend,"  he  said,  "  you  see  the  dis 
ciple  of  Zeno  transformed  into  the  Roman  exquisite, 
and  a  garland  must  finish  the  masquerade."  And 
after  secretly  withdrawing  the  note  from  the  wreath, 
he  placed  it  on  his  brow. 

Julian  now  became  pale  and  silent. 

"  Here,"  said  Oribasius,  taking  up  the  flowers 
again,  "  are  not  merely  the  Sybarite  rose-leaves ; 
here  is  laurel  to  weave  a  crown.  Take  the  sweet 
omen  that  Minerva  sends,  to  reconcile  you  to  your 
destiny,  my  Prince." 


160  PARTHENIA. 

"  The  Gods  have  answered  my  prayer.  I  leave 
my  fate  in  their  hands,"  said  the  Prince. 

"  Let  us  weave  a  crown,  then,  for  our  hero's 
brow,"  said  Euemcrus. 

"  Not,  my  friend,  till  he  has  earned  that  crown," 
said  Julian. 


161 


CHAPTER    XY. 

HELENA. 

CONSTANTIUS  had  exchanged  his  gorgeous  purple 
for  a  robe  of  sables  ;  and  as  the  November  night  was 
chilly,  he  sat  with  closed  doors  and  windows. 

"How  shall  we  now  dispose  of  our  philosopher?" 
he  said.  "  Shall  we  send  our  new  Diogenes  to 
search  for  a  man  among  the  Barbarians  ? " 

"  Your  Majesty  intends  giving  him  a  wife,"  an 
swered  Eusebius,  the  chief  eunuch,  to  whom  this 
question  was  addressed  ;  "  surround  him  then  with 
luxury,  steep  him  to  the  lips  in  pleasure,  and  he 
will  soon  become  like  all  the  other  young  Sybarites 
of  the  Empire,  less  than  a  man." 

"  I  doubt  the  success  of  your  experiment.  Julian 
is  of  sterner  nature  ;  like  Ulysses,  he  would  bind 
himself  to  the  mast  and  let  the  songs  of  the  Sirens 
pass." 

"  If  he  cannot  be  ruined  by  luxury,  or  by 
woman,"  said  Eusebius,  "  let  us  send  him  to  be 

14  * 


162  PARTHENIA. 

knocked  on  the  head  by  the  Goths  and  the  Alle- 
manni." 

"  Or  to  talk  Greek  to  the  Barbarians,  and  phi 
losophy  to  the  Northern  Bears." 

"  Send  him  to  the  Gallic  frontier,  with  an  escort 
of  two  or  three  hundred  men,  and  your  Majesty 
will  be  troubled  with  little  news  of  him  or  of  his 
philosophy." 

"  Poor  fool !"  said  Constantius;  "he  thinks  he 
can  read  the  secrets  of  nature  through  his  converse 
with  the  stars." 

"  Does  your  Majesty  really  wish  to  be  rid  of  the 
Prince  ?  There  is  a  surer  way.  Your  law  forbidding 
Pagan  sacrifices  is  in  force.  It  is  well  known  that 
Julian  prays  to  Helios,  and  sacrifices  in  secret  to 
the  Gods.  The  precious  foreign  birds  he  imports 
so  prodigally,  are  not  to  delight  him  with  their 
music.  With  all  their  glittering  plumage,  they 
are  cast  upon  his  secret  altars." 

"  Fool !  have  I  not  winked  at  these  things  ?  Have 
you  forgotten  the  sacrifice  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Tiber  to  allay  the  storm,  while  the  Emperor  him 
self  was  in  Rome?" 

"  Ah,  your  Majesty  had  sufficient  reasons  for 
ignoring  all  that  folly.  But  there  is  a  fact  which, 
if  known,  is  sufficient  to  insure  and  excuse  the 
destruction  of  the  Prince.  I  have  certain  informa- 


PARTHENIA.  163 

tion,  that  Maximus,  by  incantations  and  magical 
rites,  assured  to  Julian  the  undivided  rule  of  the 
Empire." 

"The  saints  forbid!  Do  you  not  see  that  the 
destruction  of  the  Prince  by  any  other  than  the 
most  obvious  means,  that  is,  the  sword  of  an  enemy, 
would  be,  not  only  a  political  crime,  but  the  most 
fatal  of  mistakes  ?  The  blood  of  Gallus  has  not  yet 
sunk  into  the  dust." 

The  eunuch  bowed,  and  for  the  present  concealed 
his  hatred  of  the  Prince. 

In  another  apartment  of  the  same  palace,  and 
nearly  at  the  same  hour,  two  women  were  in 
earnest  conversation.  They  were  apparently  not 
very  far  from  each  other  in  age,  although  she  who 
seemed  to  hold  the  first  place  in  rank  and  dignity 
had  numbered  fewer  years  than  her  companion. 
The  beauty  of  her  high-cut  features,  and  the  noble 
proportions  of  her  form,  showed  her  Greek  descent. 
The  Empress,  who  had  been  three  years  married  to 
Constantius,  had  from  conviction  become  a  Chris 
tian,  and  there  were  traces  revealing  an  inward  life 
of  deep  emotion  upon  her  countenance.  That  per 
fect  repose  which  her  classical  beauty  demanded, 
had  been  marred  by  the  struggles  of  a  sensitive 
nature  to  preserve  its  purity  and  Christian  faith, 


164  PAETHENIA. 

in  a  court  so  corrupt,  and  in  the  midst  of  creatures 
so  sensual. 

Her  companion  was  Helena,  the  destined  wife  of 
Julian.  She  was  less  beautiful  than  the  Empress, 
and  had  reached  that  period  in  life  when  the  fresh 
ness  of  departing  youth  is  wooed  to  remain  by  all 
the  appliances  of  art,  and  at  a  time,  also,  when  all 
the  aids  of  beauty  were  carried  to  the  utmost  per 
fection.  Helena's  brow  was  overclouded,  and  little 
in  her  attitude  or  expression  indicated  the  anticipa 
tions  of  a  happy  bride. 

"  Julian  is  no  common  man,"  said  the  Empress; 
"  if  he  were  not  Ceesar,  if  he  were  not  heir  to  the 
Emperor,  he  would  yet  be  most  noble,  and  beautiful 
as  Apollo." 

"  Beautiful !  yes,  but  how  ridiculously  awkward, 
with  that  perpetual  shrugging  of  the  shoulders,  and 
hurrying  breath." 

"  That  is  from  the  rapidity  and  intensity  of  his 
conceptions ;  words  afford  him  no  adequate  convey 
ance  of  his  thoughts.  They  rush  and  crowd  and 
tumble  over  each  other." 

"  Think  too  of  that  wilderness  of  beard  and  its 
savage  inhabitants." 

"  This  last  ridiculous  falsehood  we  know  is  a 
calumny,  invented  by  Gregory  or  Basil.  Besides, 
lias  not  the  razor  passed  over  those  lips,  and  re- 


PARTHENIA.  165 

vealcd  the  exquisite  expression  of  his  beautiful 
mouth?" 

"Look  at  his  inky  fingers." 

"Look  rather  at  his  godlike  "brow,  upon  which 
honor  sits  like  a  king,  and  then  at  those  constantly 
varying  eyes,  now  flashing  fire,  and  now,  again, 
melting  into  tenderness." 

"  Yes,  his  eyes  betray  the  real  tenderness  of  his 
nature ;  but  to  know  one's  self  to  be  merely  a  po 
litical  necessity,  —  to  know  that  all  his  truth  and 
faith  are  left  with  that  Muse  in  Athens  !  " 

"  That  also  is  a  falsehood  of  the  Athenian  stu 
dents,"  said  Eusebia.  "  Besides,  is  another  heart 
quite  pure  and  single  ?  The  first  stone  should  part 
from  stainless  hands." 

Helena  blushed,  and  her  eyes  filled  with  tears. 
"  Ah  !  how  willingly  would  I  have  given  myself  to 
Julian,  had  I  been  sought  for  myself ;  but  to  know 
that  I  am  merely  one  of  the  base  links  of  the  chain 
with  which  Constantius  binds  the  Prince  to  his  in 
terests —  " 

"  Not  to  himself  alone,  but  to  the  Empire.  Think 
of  being  the  mother  of  a  new  line  of  Emperors." 

"  Whether  I  bear  a  son  or  not,  I  am  merely  a 
sham,  a  puppet  of  Constantius's  state  policy.  And 
witli  what  indecent  haste  is  this  marriage  consum 
mated  !  If  I  had  not  watched  Julian  from  my  litter, 


166  PAETHENIA. 

the  day  when  lie  was  invested  with  the  purple,  and 
when  he  so  far  outshone  the  meaner  multitude —  " 

"  Ah,  yes  !  "  interrupted  the  Empress,  "  it  is  only 
to  see  him  with  other  men,  and  when  his  noble 
brow  kindles  with  enthusiasm,  and  his  eyes  flash 
intelligence,  and  his  whole  person  is  transfigured, 
to  know  how  immeasurably  he  surpasses  all  other 
men." 

The  Empres*  remained  silent  for  some  moments, 
and  Helena  dared  not  disturb  her  sad  reverie.  She 
had  gone  back  in  thought  to  her  Grecian  home  in 
Macedonia,  where,  as  the  daughter  and  sister  of 
Prefects,  she  had  received  every  homage,  and  been 
sought  by  many  suitors.  One  alone  had  not  sought 
her,  Julian ;  but  him  she  could  have  honored  and 
loved  above  all  men,  when  she  was  chosen  by  Con- 
stantius,  and  neither  her  own  nor  her  father's 
ambition  could  refuse  the  diadem  ;  the  gorgeous, 
heavy  honor,  while  love's  inner  shrine  was  cold 
and  empty. 

At  length  she  raised  her  eyes,  heavy  with  unshed 
tears.  "  It  has  ever  been  thus,"  she  said.  Woman 
has  ever  been  the  slave  of  circumstance.  Men  who 
have  denied  her  the  possession  of  a  soul,  have  sac 
rificed  her,  body  and  soul,  to  cement  their  iniqui 
tous  contracts,  or  to  carry  out  their  cruel  wrongs. 
In  all  the  long  ages  of  history  one  only  has  been 


PARTHENIA.  167 

just  to  woman,  because  lie  knew  the  heart  of 
woman.  The  Nazarene,  the  Crucified,  placed  her 
upon  the  same  level  with  man.  <  Let  him  who  is 
without  sin  cast  the  first  stone  at  her  ' ;  demanding 
from  her  accusers  and  judges  the  same  purity  as 
from  her.  He  knew  the  heart  of  woman ;  he  said, 
'  She  is  forgiven,  for  she  loved  much,'  thus  making 
her  frailties  bud  from  the  root  of  her  highest  vir 
tues  ;  showing  that  the  excess  of  good,  her  capacity 
for  loving,  becomes  the  excess  of  evil.  When 
women  are  really  Christian  in  heart  and  in  truth, 
they  will  attain  their  true  position,  and  take  their 
part  in  the  great  events  which  change  society." 

"  Women  have  already  done  that,"  said  Helena  ; 
"  yet  I  cannot  imagine  a  Cleopatra  or  a  Zenobia 
watching  at  the  couch  of  a  leper,  or  binding  up 
the  wounds  of  a  common  soldier." 

"  Those  are  not  the  acts  which  make  a  Christian, 
but  the  disposition  from  which  they  flow  ;  the  for- 
gctfulness  of  self,  the  disinterested  care  for  others. 
Expanded  views  of  the  whole  of  humanity,  arising 
from  the  first,  and  tender  care  for  all,  flowing  from 
the  other ;  when  women  are  thoroughly  Christian, 
they  will  be  the  mothers  of  princes  worthy  to  reign ; 
until  then,  ah  —  " 

"  Until  then,"  said  Helena,  "  they  will  continue 
to  divorce  and  repudiate,  murder  and  poison  wives, 
alas  !  half  heathen  and  half  Christian,  like  myself." 


168 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

THE  BARBAKIANS. 

JULIAN  left  Milan,  the  first  of  December,  to  cross 
the  Alps,  with  an  army  composed  of  only  three 
hundred  and  sixty  men.  The  streets  were  thronged 
with  the  people  in  holiday  attire,  for  in  this  pleasure- 
loving  age  every  occasion  was  made  a  festival,  and 
as  Julian's  marriage,  through  the  influence  of  Eu- 
sehia,  had  been  nearly  private,  the  people  would  in 
demnify  themselves  for  the  loss  of  the  piiblic  games 
by  making  his  departure  a  holiday.  In  the  midst 
of  legions  of  gaily  caparisoned  troops,  the  chosen 
number  which  were  to  accompany  Julian  marched 
out  of  their  barracks,  with  their  heavy  knapsacks 
and  their  winter  clothing,  prepared  to  cross  the 
Alps  in  December. 

It  was  the  custom  at  all  public  celebrations,  and 
at  the  departure  or  arrival  of  troops,  to  suspend 
crowns  of  laurel,  and  of  flowers,  throughout  the 
streets ;  and  as  Julian  placed  himself  at  the  head  of 


PARJHENIA.  169 

his  troops,  whose  small  numbers  had  called  forth  a 
shout  of  derision,  one  of  these  crowns  became  de 
tached  from  its  hold,  and  fell  directly  upon  his 
head ;  the  shout  of  derision  was  exchanged  for  one 
of  joy  and  triumph. 

As  he  passed  at  the  head  of  his  small  troop,  upon 
a  well-trained  charger,  through  one  of  the  gates, 
there  started  up  before  him  an  apparition  of  an  in 
firm  and  blind  old  woman,  who  cried  out,  "  Behold 
him  who  cometh  in  the  name  of  the  old  Gods,  to 
rebuild  their  fallen  temples,  and  re-establish  their 
worship."  Julian  trembled,  for  she  had  given  ut 
terance  to  his  own  secret  thought  at  the  very  mo 
ment. 

Before  the  end  of  December  the  Prince  made  his 
entry  into  Vienna.  He  was  received  with  the  ut 
most  joy  by  all  ranks  of  people  ;  all  ages  and  both 
sexes  poured  out  to  meet  him.  They  had  longed 
for  Julian  as  for  a  publie  benefactor,  a  tutelary 
angel,  whose  presence  was  to  alleviate  all  public 
burdens,  and  put  an  end  to  all  public  griefs.  It  is 
difficult  to  understand  upon  what  foundation  they 
could  build  such  extravagant  hopes.  What  could 
they  expect  from  the  presence  of  a  young  Prince 
educated,  like  Julian,  under  the  shadow  of  the 
schools,  who  had  never  seen  a  naked  sword,  or 
known  anything  of  war  except  from  books  ? 

15 


170  PARTHENIA. 

The  Germans,  who  had  passed  undisturbed  across 
the  Rhine,  had,  at  the  time  Julian  was  sent  out, 
destroyed  forty-five  cities,  without  counting  chateaus 
and  villages.  They  occupied  the  whole  length  of 
the  Rhine,  and  ravaged  with  impunity  the  whole 
country.  The  Gauls  who  had  escaped  death  or 
servitude,  suffered  all  the  horrors  of  captivity  in 
their  own  cities.  The  enemy  took  from  beneath 
their  eyes  their  flocks  and  their  harvests,  and  the 
little  wheat  which  they  could  sow  within  the  circuit 
of  their  walls  alone  fed  their  families. 

What  could  they  expect  from  a  young  Prince, 
upon  whose  head  only  twenty-four  winters  had  shed 
their  wisdom  ?  Besides,  Constantius,  the  very  day 
he  left  Milan,  secretly  despatched,  in  all  haste,  a 
courier  to  Marcellus,  his  general  of  cavalry,  with 
orders  to  distrust  and  mislead  Julian,  and  also  to 
withhold  from  him  all  assistance.  At  the  same 
time  secret  emissaries  were  sent,  with  orders  to  en 
deavor  to  detect  him  in  some  crime  or  rebellion 
which  would  cause  his  destruction. 

The  winter  has  past  since  the  beginning  of  this 
chapter.  It  was  now  the  summer  solstice,  and  cou 
riers  had  arrived  from  all  parts  of  the  Empire.  The 
heat  was  excessive,  but,  notwithstanding,  the  Em 
press  was  present  in  the  audience-chamber,  not  con- 


PARTHENIA.  171 

cealing  the  deep  interest  she  felt  in  the  despatch 
es  received  from  Julian.  The  burning  rays  of  the 
sun  were  excluded  from  the  lofty  room;  immense 
fans,  ingeniously  suspended  from  the  ceiling,  were 
waved  perpetually  to  and  fro  by  pages,  and  cooling 
waters  and  costly  perfumes  were  constantly  diffused 
through  the  heated  atmosphere. 

The  Emperor,  clad  in  the  thinnest  garments,  but 
not  without  costly  jewels  and  embroidery,  reclined 
upon  a  low  couch,  surrounded  by  the  various  min 
isters  of  his  luxury. 

Constantius,  too  indolent  for  business,  had  left 
the  whole  arrangement  to  his  chamberlain,  care 
lessly  interposing  when  any  peculiar  circumstances 
caught  his  ear.  The  despatches  from  Gaul  had 
just  been  read. 

"  They  have  not  succeeded  then,"  he  said,  "  in 
inspiring  that  foolish  boy  with  a  love  of  pleasure, 
or  of  dice,  or  of — " 

"  Ah,  no,  Sire !  his  days  and  nights  have  been 
spent  in  study  and  in  business.  Even  before  he 
left  Vienna  to  seek  the  Germans,  who  had  just 
raised  the  siege  of  Autun,  he  evinced  the  wisdom 
of  an  old,  experienced  general  —  " 

"  That  was  no  great  mark  of  wisdom,  but  the 
most  egregious  folly,  to  take  the  most  dangerous 
road  because  it  was  the  shortest,"  said  the  Emperor. 


172  PARTHENIA. 

"  That  folly  cost  him  his  arriere  guard,"  said  one 
of  the  courtiers.  "  His  enemies  were  in  ambush, 
and  deprived  him  of  this  essential  part  of  his 
army." 

"  But  this  accident,"  interposed  the  Empress, 
gently,  "  has  taught  him  that  a  wise  suspicion  is 
a  most  essential  quality,  even  indispensable  in  a 
good  general." 

"  By  the  mere  terror  his  success  has  inspired," 
said  one  friendly  to  Julian,  "  he  has  compelled 
some  of  the  Barbarian  kings  to  make  treaties  with 
us,  and  this  before  he  came  to  pass  the  winter  at 
Sens." 

"  But  there  the  boy  was  besieged.  Do  not  the 
despatches  say  so  ?  "  asked  the  Emperor,  languidly. 

"  And  deserted  by  Marcellus,"  said  the  chamber 
lain  ;  "  who  dared  to  say  that  he  received  secret 
orders  to  suspect  the  Prince,  and  to  withhold  from 
him  all  assistance." 

"  The  traitor  ! "  cried  the  Emperor,  apparently 
in  violent  anger.  "  Let  him  be  instantly  arrested." 

Furtive  smiles  passed  round  the  courtiers,  and 
some  of  the  enemies  of  Julian  trembled. 

"  Well,  but  the  pedantic  boy  consumes  the  mid 
night  oil,"  said  the  Emperor,  "  learning  the  art  of 
war  in  Caesar's  Commentaries  ?  " 

"  No,  Sire !     Every  day,  and  long  past  midnight, 


PARTHENIA.  173 

the  Prince  was  upon,  the  ramparts  at  Sens,  with  his 
own  hands  repairing  the  walls,  and  encouraging  the 
troops  ;  filled  with  anger,  indeed,  to  find  himself  de 
serted  by  Marcellus,  but  always  ready  to  repulse  the 
enemy.  All  resort  to  him.  He  is  adored  by  the 
soldiers.  Every  soldier  there  would  sacrifice  his 
life  for  the  Prince." 

% 

"  We  shall  see,"  said  the  Emperor,  "  when  any 
thing  decisive  is  attempted." 

"  As  for  the  battle  of  Strasbourg,"  *  said  one  of 
the  courtiers,  "  it  was  mere  child's  play,  a  bagatelle, 
—  to  give  the  Prince  a  pretence  for  boasting." 

"  It  was  some  little  cause  for  exultation,"  said 
the  Empress,  "  when  the  whole  Roman  cavalry 
wavered,  to  place  himself  as  a  barrier  which  they 
must  leap  over,  or  stand  firm." 

"  Ah,  your  Majesty,  we  will  baptize  him,  good 
Christian  that  he  is,  Monsieur  Victorine." 

"  Rather  pray  to  your  Gods,"  said  the  Empress, 
"  that  they  afford  you  such  a  cause  for  boasting." 

The  courtiers  saw  that  the  Emperor  received  all 
this  with  complacency,  and  one  ventured  to  add, 
"  This  monkey  clothed  with  the  purple,  this  im 
perial  buffoon,  will  soon  be  extinguished.  Let 
your  Majesty  send  a  real  warrior,  an  experienced 

*  Argentoratum. 
15* 


174  PARTHENIA. 

general  there,  and  his  glories  will  melt  away  like 
frost-work  in  the  sun." 

"  But  this  hairy  pedant,  all  thorny  with  Greek, 
has  not  studied  the  art  of  rhetoric  in  vain,"  said 
another.  "  His  simple  soldiers  believe  him  greater 
even  than  the  Emperor  himself;  it  takes  no  conjurer 
to  predict  to  what  height  he  aspires." 

"  It  is  not  by  his  rhetoric  that  he  wins  the  hearts 
of  Germans,"  said  the  Empress,  "  for  I  am  certain 
the  pure  classic  Greek  alone  flows  from  his  tongue. 
True,  your  Majesty,"  the  Empress  continued,  "  it 
is  not  the  evanescent  power  of  language  alone. 
It  is  his  inflexible  justice,  his  impartial  clemency, 
his  dauntless  bravery.  The  soldiers  admire  his 
intrepidity  and  contempt  of  death ;  and  when  they 
see  the  Prince  sharing  the  coarse  fare  which  must 
content  them,  sleeping  without  fire,  rising  in  the 
coldest  midnight  to  make  the  rounds  of  the  ram 
parts,  and  to  speak  a  kind  word  of  encouragement 
to  every,  even  the  lowest  soldier  among  them,  they 
worship  him,  and  they  would  die,  every  one  of 
them,  would  die  for  him." 

"  It  must  be  confessed,"  said  a  courtier,  bowing 
low  to  the  Empress,  and  thinking  he  was  gaining 
her  favor,  "  it  must  be  confessed  that  it  was  no  easy 
task  to  win  both  the  soldiers  and  the  oppressed  in 
habitants  of  the  Provinces,  so  many  years  trodden 


PARTHENIA.  175 

down  and  robbed  by  grasping  prefects  and  cruel 
generals." 

"  Ah  yes!  "  said  the  Empress,  "  it  was  a  new  and 
astounding  thing  when  Julian  told  a  man  that  his 
own  wife  belonged  to  himself;  that  his  children 
should  not  be  thrown  into  the  flames  which  had 
already  consumed  his  granaries  and  his  barns." 

"  Instead  of  burning  the  wheat,  he  pays  for  it. 
It  is  no  longer  the  law  of  the  strongest,"  said  one 
of  them. 

"  Tush !  the  pedant  has  become  a  Solon  as  well 
as  an  Alexander.  Let  us  vote  him  an  ovation,  and 
be  done  with  him.  I  am  tired  of  hearing  Aristides 
called  the  Just." 

"What  will  you  say  when  I  tell  you  he  has 
ordered  his  soldiers  to  respect  the  honor  of  wo 
men?" 

"  Yes !  but  it  raised  a  mutiny,  and  it  was  only 
after  he  had  ordered  some  of  his  soldiers  to  be 
crucified  that  he  was  obeyed,"  said  another. 

"  And  a  woman  may  pass  unmolested  through 
the  country,"  said  one  of  them. 

"  Julian  would  not  look  at  the  beautiful  captives 
brought  from  the  remotest  parts  of  Gaul  or  Britain, 
where  their  complexions  are  like  ivory." 

"  The  Prince  has  always  been  a  woman-hater," 
drawled  an  effeminate  courtier. 


176  PARTHENIA. 

Eusebia  would  have  annihilated  him  with  a  look. 

Thus  the  first  campaigns  of  Julian,  brilliant 
though  they  were,  drew  towards  him  no  favor  at 
the  court.  They  would  have  been  much  more 
glorious,  had  not  the  Emperor  placed  around  him 
secret  enemies  and  false  friends.  At  length,  how 
ever,  by  the  intervention  of  the  Empress,  the  whole 
command  of  the  army  was  given  to  the  Prince. 
Through  her  influence,  also,  Severus,  the  officer 
next  in  command,  was  sent  out  to  him.  He  was 
a  man  full  of  honor  and  disinterestedness,  and 
though  many  years  the  senior  of  Julian,  he  ex 
ecuted  his  plans  with  the  skill  of  an  experienced 
captain,  and  the  obedience  of  a  good  soldier,  and 
with  as  entire  good  faith  as  though  himself  had 
been  their  author. 


177 


CHAPTER    XVII. 

THE  CHRISTIAN. 

PARTHENIA  remained  still  in  Athens.  Her  father 
had  gone  to  his  Prefecture  in  Antioch,  but  she 
remained  to  complete  her  year's  service  in  the 
temple  of  Pallas  Athena.  Athens  was  now  asso 
ciated  with  the  memory  of  Julian.  He  had  thrown 
the  magic  light  of  his  genius  upon  the  common  day, 
and  gilded  every  moment  as  it  passed  with  joy. 
His  presence  had  made  the  world  rich  to  her ;  the 
morning  and  the  evening  hours  were  winged  with 
love  and  happiness.  There  is,  in  the  life  of  many 
of  the  most  fortunate  of  the  earth,  a  golden  age, 
or  hours  and  moments  of  gold,  that  take  the  place 
in  life  which  the  golden  age  holds  in  history.  Then 
nature  is  kinder,  the  skies  are  of  a  more  tender 
blue,  the  air  is  more  balmy,  the  flowers  are  tinted 
with  richer  colors,  the  world  is  more  beautiful,  the 
countenances  of  our  friends  are  lovelier,  we  are 
ourselves  better ;  and  oh !  so  happy !  In  our  hearts 


178  PARTHENIA. 

the  lamb  leads  the  lion,  and  they  both  lie  down  in 
peace  together.  Parthenia  had  lived  in  this  age  of 
gold  while  Julian  was  in  Athens.  Had  it  altogether 
passed  away  ?  Ah  no  !  memory  lingered,  and  hope 
shed  a  light  like  the  morning  planet  that  precedes 
the  return  of  the  sun. 

The  retired  avenues  of  the  Academy,  beneath  the 
plane-trees,  where  the  nightingales  sang,  and  the 
Cephissus  murmured,  were  her  favorite  walks. 
Towards  the  evening  of  one  of  those  serene  days, 
she  was  leaning  upon  the  statue  of  Ariadne,  when 
she  heard  the  name  of  Julian  proclaimed  by  mes 
sengers  just  arrived  from  the  Piraeus.  These 
messengers  held  the  place  of  newspapers,  and  pro 
claimed  the  news  from  street  to  street.  The 
burden  of  their  present  message  was  the  recent 
elevation  of  Julian  to  the  purple,  his  marriage 
with  the  Emperor's  sister,  and  his  departure  with 
a  .small  army  for  the  Rhine.  Parthenia  heard  no 
more.  She  sank  down  by  the  statue  which  sup 
ported  her,  and  all  vitality  for  a  moment  seemed 
lost.  It  was  but  for  a  moment ;  the  natural  vigor 
of  her  health  restored  her  to  consciousness,  and  to 
the  sense  of  an  intolerable  pain.  As  she  recovered, 
the  whole  of  that  enchanted  period  of  her  life  when 
Julian  made  its  light  and  joy,  appeared  to  her  like 


PARTHENIA.  '179 

* 

a  point  of  time,  a  moment,  for  ever  past.  And  the 
future  ?  There  was  no  future  for  her,  —  there 
could  be  none.  Her  life  was  closed,  and  a  dark 
shadow  stood  weeping  over  it ! 

Ah,  it  was  not  so  !  She  was  only  on  the  thresh 
old  of  the  long  solitude,  —  that  solitude  of  the 
heart  which  God  appoints  for  all  true  souls.  All 
true  greatness  is  wrought  out  in  deep  inward  soli 
tude,  and  God  gives  this  solitude  to  his  beloved  as 
the  sternest  trial  of  life. 

As  from  moment  to  moment  Parthenia  recovered 
possession  of  her  reason,  and  was  able  to  look 
steadily  upon  the  ruin  which  had  overtaken  her,  she 
asked,  "  Why  have  I  thought  myself  superior  to 
others  ?  Why  have  I  been  proud  of  my  intellect,  if 
thus  my  hope  is  destroyed,  and  the  fountain  of  my 
life  for  ever  dry  ?  I  believed  myself  favored  of  the 
Gods, — that  Pallas  was  my  friend, — and  shall  this 
leaden  death,  this  icy  grief,  for  ever  shroud  me  ?  " 
Then,  with  the  thought  of  Julian,  a  softer  sorrow 
returned.  Destiny,  the  cruel  heathen  Fate,  had 
separated  them  for  ever ;  but  she  had  known  the 
bliss  of  love ;  she  had  known  what  it  was  to  love 
a  noble,  a  real  soul ;  and  she  asked,  "Had  I  a  right 
to  hold  back  when  this  godlike  gift  was  presented 
to  me  ?  Should  I  have  turned  away  from  this  con 
secration  ?  Ah  no !  "  Julian,  so  truly  noble  in 


180  PARTHENIA. 

himself,  was  yet  transfigured  in  the  eyes  of  Par- 
tlicnia.  She  remembered  every  sentence  he  had 
ever  spoken.  The  half-murmured  words  of  love, 
rare  and  low  as  they  had  been,  were  burnt  into 
her  soul  and  for  ever  ineffaceable  there. 

She  rose  now  to  go  to  the  altar  of  Athena,  which 
stood  in  a  retired  walk,  where  in  happy  days  she 
had  been  used  to  pray ;  but  the  cold  marble  image 
of  the  Goddess,  looking  down  upon  her  with  its 
human  eye,  in  which  there  was  no  pity,  struck  a 
coldness  upon  her  heart  as  of  marble  itself.  She 
tried  to  pray.  She  tried  to  recall  the  emotions 
which  all  the  worship  of  the  beautiful  had  inspired 
in  Julian's  presence ;  but  she  found  that  love  had 
been  the  key  which  had  unlocked  for  her  the  mys 
teries  of  the  beautiful  in  the  worship  of  the  heathen 
Gods.  There  was  no  sympathy  in  those  cold,  stony 
eyes,  there  was  no  pity  in  that  marble  breast,  for  the 
crushed  and  bleeding  heart. 

Despair  was  fast  gathering  over  this  deserted 
soul,  when  she  saw  approaching  her  the  brother 
of  her  little  slave,  Areta.  Theodoras  would  have 
immediately  withdrawn,  but  in  blank  despair  Par- 
thenia  longed  for  the  sound  of  a  human  voice. 
Theodoras  was  also  touched,  he  knew  not  why ;  but 
he  saw  there  was  sorrow  in  that  prostrate  form, 
irremediable  by  him,  and  he  said,  "  Beloved  priest- 


PARTHENIA.  181 

css,  would  you  only  see  my  grandfather ;  he  would 
comfort  you  —  " 

"  And  who  is  your  grandfather  ?  "  she  asked. 

"He  is  an  aged  man,  who  has  often  seen  the 
priestess  in  the  temple,"  he  answered. 

"  And  why  can  he  serve  me  ?"  she  asked. 

"  Because  he  knows  all  the  avenues  that  lead 
to  the  heart,  and  those  of  sorrow  he  has  oftenest 
passed  through." 

Parthenia  blushed  faintly  to  find  that  her  sorrow 
was  so  legibly  written  upon  her  brow  that  a  child 
could  read  it.  "  How  has  he  learnt  the  secret  ail 
ments  of  the  heart,  and  the  art  to  heal  them  ?  " 

"He  is  a  Christian!  He  worships  the  Cruci 
fied." 

Parthenia  motioned  him  to  be  silent.  She  re 
membered  Julian's  aversion,  and  shrank  inwardly 
from  all  contact  with  those  he  called  Galileans. 

The  stars  now  began  to  appear  in  the  violet-tint 
ed  sky,  and  the  dewy  air  brought  out  the  fragrance 
of  the  gum  cistus,  whose  scattered  petals  were 
wafted  by  the  evening  breeze.  The  tumult  of  the 
city  was  hushed,  and  the  Athenian  maiden  prepared 
to  return  to  her  home.  Theodore,  who  walked 
a  very  little  behind  her,  observed  the  complete 
abandon  of  her  manner,  the  noble  drooping  form, 

16 


182  PABTHENIA. 

the  starry  eyes  cast  down  and  veiled  with  unshed 
tears.  He  longed  to  speak  to  her  to  try  to  comfort 
her.  At  length  he  heard  her  murmur,  "  How 
mysterious,  how  insoluble,  is  the  enigma  of  this 
life,  how  strange  this  love,  so  late  found,  so  soon 
lost!" 

"  Sorrow,"  dearest  mistress,  he  ventured  to  say, 
"  is  that  inexpressible  mystery  in  which  God's  love 
is  hidden.  Believe  me,  this  is  only  a  bud  of  sorrow 
which  will  blossom  into  ineffable  joy.  I  do  believe 
it  is  God's  purpose  to  lead  you  thus  to  the  Cruci 
fied,  who  consecrated  all  sorrow  by  making  it  his 
path  through  life." 

As  Parthenia  entered  her  own  dwelling,  the 
moon  had  risen,  and  its  soft  light  touched  the  stat 
ues  of  the  Deities  around,  cold  and  silent  like 
ghosts,  who  would  not,  who  could  not,  return  an 
answer  to  the  thirsting  soul.  "  0,"  she  cried,  "  for 
some  loving  witness,  for  some  sure  and  certain  con 
viction  that  this  is  not  all  of  life  ;  that,  bereft  as  I 
am  of  love  and  joy,  this  is  not  the  fading  away  for 
ever  of  happiness !  0  for  a  whisper,  a  sound,  an 
assurance  that  there  is  something  beyond ;  that 
there  is  an  Immortal  soul  to  survive ;  that  there  is 
a  God  to  grant ;  that  there  is  a  world  after  this ; 
that  beyond  these  starry  points  —  beyond,  0  some- 


PARTHENIA.  183 

where  beyond — where  love  shall  live  again — where 
the  parted  shall  meet  —  where  Fate,  Destiny,  the 
dreadful  sisters,  shall  lose  their  power  to  sever 
hearts,  and  life  shall  begin  again !  " 

Exhausted  by  her  emotion,  with  this  sharp  cry 
upon  her  lips,  she  sank  down  upon  her  couch.  She 
sobbed  herself  away  to  calm,  and  seemed  to  sleep, 
and  awoke  again,  as  she  thought,  at  the  sound  of 
music,  —  a  single  voice  unlike  any  she  had  ever 
heard.  It  was  tender  and  childish,  but  very  sweet, 
and  as  Parthenia  listened,  she  recognized  the  voice 
of  her  little  slave,  Areta. 

"  Angel  Jesus,  who  dost  lie 
Far  above  the  stormy  sky, 
In  thy  mother's  pure  caress, 
Stoop,  and  save  the  motherless. 
At  thy  threshold  low  I  bend, 
Who  have  neither  kin  nor  friend ; 
Let  me  here  a  shelter  find, 
Shield  the  shorn  lamb  from  the  wind. 
Jesus,  Lord,  my  heart  will  break ! 
Save  me,  for  thy  great  love's  sake ! " 

The  hymn  ceased,  but  not  the  soothing  influence 
upon  Parthenia.  She  called  the  slaves  and  told 
them  to  throw  away  the  chaplets  prepared  for  the 
evening  guests,  to-night  she  would  admit  no  visitors. 

"  Come,"  she  said  to  Areta,  "  bring  thy  lyre  and 
sing  to  me  those  simple  hymns  learnt  in  thy  in 
fancy." 


184  PAETHENIA. 

As  Partlienia  reclined  upon  her  couch,  the  young 
slave  sat  at  her  feet,  and  sang  in  her  sweetest  child 
like  voice  the  hymns  learnt  at  that  earliest  Chris 
tian  church,  the  knee  of  the  mother,  the  earliest 
and  the  last ;  for,  in  the  words  of  one  who  felt  their 
truth,  "  if  Christianity  were  to  be  compelled  to  flee 
from  the  throng  of  busy  men,  its  last  altar  would 
be  the  mother's  heart,  its  last  audience  the  children 
gathered  round  the  knees  of  a  mother,  its  last  sac 
rifice  the  prayer  breathed  in  silence  from  her  lips, 
and  heard  only  at  the  throne  of  God." 

The  vineyard  of  Albinus,  which  Partlienia  had 
promised  her  little  slave  to  visit,  was  not  far  out 
side  the  eastern  wall  of  Athens,  and  lay  in  the 
shadow  of  the  mountain  around  whose  base  wound 
the  sacred  way  to  Eleusis.  Rising  above  the  heights, 
the  exquisite  color  and  form  of  the  Acropolis,  with 
all  its  matchless  temples  and  statues,  began  to  be 
touched  with  the  morning  beams  of  the  sun,  when 
Partlienia  left  the  city. 

Albinus,  the  grandfather  of  Areta,  was  a  vine 
dresser,  and  also  what  we  should  call  a  market- 
gardener.  His  cottage  was  covered  by  vines  and 
flowers,  and  overhung  by  large  fig-trees,  that  cast 
down  upon  the  court  beneath  the  quivering  shad 
ow  of  their  indented  leaves.  Since  the  dawn  of 


PARTHENIA.  185 

day,  the  old  man  had  been  clipping  away  the  vine- 
leaves  where  they  too  much  overshaded  the  clusters 
of  purple  and  amber  grapes,  the  most  luscious  of 
which  he  put  aside  for  the  tables  of  the  rich,  they 
bearing  a  high  price  in  Athens,  while  the  smaller 
grapes  could  be  bought  very  cheap  indeed ;  grapes, 
fruit,  and  honey,  and  the  most  delicate  kinds  of 
fish  forming  the  diet  of  the  Athenians. 

The  hale  old  man  was  wiping  his  brow,  for  the 
morning  sun  was  hot,  when  the  lectica  of  Parthe- 
nia  was  set  down  at  the  vineyard  by  the  Syrian 
slaves,  who  had  borne  its  light  burden  from  the 
gate  of  Athens. 

Parthenia,  graceful  in  every  action,  apologized 
for  her  early  visit,  through  the  wish  to  give  pleas 
ure  to  her  little  handmaiden,  who  was,  excepting 
Theodorus,  whom  we  have  seen  in  the  temple,  the 
eldest  of  the  family.  The  pale  cheek  of  the  mother 
flushed  a  little,  at  seeing  the  priestess  of  Minerva 
beneath  her  roof;  but,  with  humble  courtesy,  she 
said  she  hoped  it  would  not  offend  her  belief  in 
another  faith  to  witness  their  morning  worship. 
You  could  not  look  upon  the  face  of  Areta,  for  the 
mother  bore  the  same  name  as  the  daughter,  with 
out  feeling  that  hers  was  a  nature  which  would 
have  ripened  on  the  sunny  side  of  life,  and  in  the 
climate  of  happiness;  instead  of  which,  she  had 

16* 


186  PARTHENIA. 

climbed  the  rocky  path  where  her  own  bleeding 
feet  had  kept  her  from  slipping,  for  hers  had 
been  the  martyr's  path,  and  all  but  the  martyr's 
crown.  Even  at  this  early  age  there  began  to 
appear  a  superior  order  of  women,  formed  through 
the  influence  of  Christianity.  The  glowing  zeal 
and  suffering  virtues  of  such  men  as  Basil  and 
Gregory  and  St.  Augustine  are  said  to  have  been 
formed  by  the  tender  care  of  their  Christian 
mothers. 

Parthenia  expressed  her  strong  wish  to  witness 
their  morning  worship ;  while  she  was  charmed  to 
see  that  the  personal  purity  and  elegance  which  the 
Platonists  insist  upon  as  essential  to  true  worship 
were  preserved  in  this  Christian  family.  The  little 
bustle  which  their  entrance  occasioned  had  ceased, 
when  the  mother  unrolled  a  portion  of  the  sacred 
manuscript.  Parthenia  knew  that  it  was  one  of 
the  Gospels,  although,  in  her  pride  of  Athenian  cul 
ture  and  Grecian  learning,  she  had  never  imagined 
they  were  worthy  of  her  attention.  But  as  Areta 
read,  "  Come  unto  me,  all  ye  who  sorrow  and  are 
heavy  laden,"  she  thought  she  had  never  heard 
words  so  tender,  uttered  in  a  tone  of  such  deep 
sympathy,  from  a  voice  musical,  but  full  of  tears. 
Her  own  tears  were  also  on  her  checks.  The  read 
ing  over,  all  knelt,  except  the  old  man,  who  had 


PARTHENIA.  187 

taken  the  children  upon  his  knees ;  they  were  ca 
ressing  his  brow  and  temples,  and,  not  to  disturb 
them,  he  uttered  the  short  prayer  sitting,  and  with 
the  little  girls  on  his  lap. 

She  had  never  seen  worship  thus  adapted  to 
accommodate  the  simple  and  tho  weak.  She  ex 
pressed  her  surprise. 

"Our  Master,"  said  Albinus,  "called  little  chil 
dren  to  him,  and  said,  Of  such  is  the  kingdom  of 
Heaven ;  and  we  only  imitate  him  when  we  make, 
the  church  consist  of  those  who  will  form  it  here 
after;  we  can  become  children  again  only  in  sim 
plicity  and  innocence,  and  thus  must  we  become 
disciples  of  Jesus." 

The  Athenian  maiden  had  often  listened  to  stories 
of  Christian  cruelty  ;  she  blushed  at  her  own  levity 
of  belief,  and,  as  they  drew  around  the  morning 
meal,  she  felt  the  genuine  polish  and  true  courtesy 
of  the  heart  which  served  it. 

"  Is  my  second  Areta,"  asked  the  old  man,  "  wor 
thy  of  her  who  bore  her  ?  Does  she  never  disobey 
so  kind  a  mistress  ?  " 

"  In  one  thing  only  have  I  found  her  reluctant, 
and  in  that  particular,  by  obeying  me,  she  would 
offend  you  Galileans." 

"  Grandpa  is  not  a  Galilean,  he  loves  to  be  called 
a  Christian,"  said  one  of  the  little  girls,  taking  the 


188  PARTHENIA. 

witness  of  his  faith,  his  dislocated  wrist,  in  her  fair 
little  hands  and  kissing  it. 

"  We  are  Christians,"  whispered  the  other,  "  we 
are  never  Galileans." 

Parthenia  smiled.  "  I  see,"  she  said,  "  that  even 
your  babes  are  zealous  for  the  honor  of  your 
sect." 

"  Yes,  the  tear-drops  of  our  love  for  Christ  have 
baptized  them  into  love  for  him  also.  I  rejoice, 
noble  Athenian,"  continued  the  old  man,  "  that  all 
except  one  of  my  children  are  daughters.  A  new 
influence  is  coming  into  the  world  through  Chris 
tian  mothers.  How  blest  will  be  their  influence 
upon  their  young  sons,  when  —  not  like  the  Spartan 
mother,  as  she  binds  the  shield  upon  the  tender 
arm  of  her  boy,  and  says,  i  With  it,  or  upon  it,'  or 
like  the  Roman  mother,  making  him  swear  hatred 
to  his  enemies  —  the  Christian  mother  baptizes  her 
son  into  love  and  pity,  and  says,  *  Love  your  en 
emies,  do  good  to  those  who  hate  you,  pray  for 
those  who  wish  you  evil ! ' ' 

Parthenia  was  a  Greek,  and  these  humble  and 
long-suffering  precepts  sounded  abject  to  her  Athe 
nian  ear;  but  her  woman's  heart  softened  at  the 
picture  of  the  Christian  mother,  the  guardian  and 
inspirer  of  her  sons !  It  was  the  Athenian  custom 
to  give  the  young  boys  into  the  charge  of  a  pedant 


PARTHENIA.  189 

to  be  instructed  in  warlike  and  manly  usages. 
They  were  taught  to  revenge  injuries,  to  look 
down  with  a  haughty  assumption  of  the  superior 
ity  of  manhood  upon  woman,  and  upon  everything 
weaker  than  themselves. 

Tears  gathered  in  the  eyes  of  the  maiden.  She 
was  thinking  of  her  past  life,  a  vestal  in  the  temple 
of  Pallas,  her  life  arid  and  desolate,  and  of  the 
beautiful  picture  presented  by  the  daily  duties  of 
the  humble  and  feminine  Areta  ;  at  the  same 
moment,  a  contrasted  and  repulsive  vision  of  those 
ascetic  Christian  recluses,  the  monks  and  nuns, 
who  fancy  themselves  to  have  reached  the  very 
summit  of  Christian  perfection,  rose  before  her. 

"  How,"  she  asked,  "  do  you  reconcile  your 
Christian  mother,  encumbered  with  her  sweet  cares, 
with  that  other  flowerless  and  leafless  growth  of 
your  religion,  the  ascetic  monks  and  nuns,  who 
bury  themselves  in  the  reedy  islands  of  the  Nile, 
or  in  the  sunburnt  deserts." 

"  Noble  lady,  Jesus,  our  Master,  gave  us  no  ex 
ample  of  recluse  life,  and  left  no  command  for 
ascetic  self-denial.  We  do  not  read  his  lessons 
thus.  God  has  made  the  world  so  wonderfully  fair, 
that  pious  hearts  may  love  it.  Proud  withdrawal 
from  all  human  passion,  is  no  part  of  the  religion  of 
him  who  entered  with  sympathy  into  every  human 


190  PAETHENIA. 

relation.  These  extremes  of  ascetism  will  be  pun 
ished,  I  fear,  alas !  by  a  return  to  lowest  degrada 
tion." 

Parthenia  expressed  her  surprise,  for  at  that 
moment  the  practice  of  asceticism  was  thought  the 
truest  worship,  or  the  world  was  so  corrupt,  that, 
to  be  religious  at  all,  they  wei'e  compelled  to  go 
out  of  the  world." 

"  Certainly,"  said  Albinus,  "  we  would  allow  to 
those  who  feel  the  need  of  contemplative  repose,  or 
who  seek  seasons  of  repentance,  to  retire  from  the 
world,  but  the  highest  attainment  of  the  Christian 
life  is  to  live  for  the  good  of  others,  to  do  the 
duty  which  lies  nearest  to  you,  and  leave  the  rest 
to  God." 

A  bright  color  flashed  into  Parthenia's  cheek. 
"  0  precious  words !  "  she  said  ;  "  I  may  then  hope 
that  my  life  has  not  been  all  in  vain." 

"  Your  life,  noble  lady,  must  reflect  much  that 
is  good,  much  which  one  who  looks  beyond  mere 
forms  would  accept,  even  in  the  worship  of  your 
Gods,  but  which  we  Christians  reject." 

"  Alas !  it  is  like  a  broken  mirror,"  said  Parthe 
nia;  "  some  few  of  the  scattered  fragments  may  be 
sparkling  and  brilliant,  but  it  can  never  again 
reflect  a  perfect  image." 

"  I  would  ask  for  you  but  one  change,  dearest 


PARTHENIA.  191 

lady,  to  make  your  life  like  the  priceless  jewel, 
which  all  the  possessions  of  the  world  could  not 
outvalue.  Give  your  heart  to  the  Son  of  God  ! 
He  looks  with  the  same  love  and  pity  upon  the 
bewildered  mind,  as  upon  the  sinning  life.  He 
turns  only  from  the  haughty  and  false  of  heart." 


192 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 

LUTETIA,  OR  PARIS. 

JULIAN  had  finished  his  third  campaign  in  Gaul. 
He  had  re-conquered  and  re-established  the  cities 
destroyed  by  Barbarians  along  the  course  of  the 
Rhine.  He  had  formed  peaceful  colonies,  governed 
by  just  laws,  regulating  the  amount  of  tribute,  and 
diminishing  the  taxes.  He  sought  to  administer 
justice,  not  exactly  according  to  the  rules  of  Roman 
usage,  but  after  his  own  views,  which  were,  "  that 
a  prince  was  a  living  law  who  should  temper  by 
his  own  clemency  that  which  the  dead  law  had 
made  too  rigorous."  Governing,  in  the  name  of 
the  Emperor,  with  these  views,  yielding  nothing  to 
favor  or  riches,  he  had  made  himself  beloved  by  the 
inhabitants,  adored  by  the  army,  and  approved  by 
the  wise  and  impartial,  who  were  not  the  courtiers 
of  Constantius. 

In  the  midst  of  winter,  the  Prince  had  returned 
from  his  campaign  on  the  Rhine  to  his  beloved 


PARTHENIA.  193 

Lutetia,  or  Paris.  Paris,  at  this  time,  extended 
little  beyond  the  island  enclosed  by  the  Seine, 
which  was  connected  with  the  opposite  shores  by 
two  wooden  bridges,  from  one  end  of  which 
stretched  a  noble  Roman  road  to  the  heart  of  the 
Empire.  Here,  in  an  ancient  palace,  surrounded 
by  gardens  and  spacious  Roman  baths,  Julian  and 
Helena  held  their  frugal  and  unostentatious  court. 
Remains  of  massive  walls  even  now  attest  the 
grandeur  of  these  ancient  structures,  whose  sim 
ple  architecture  presented  few  ornaments.  Pillars 
enclosed  long  rows  of  arcades,  where  the  stern 
soldier,  encased  in  his  armor  of  steel,  kept  his 
monotonous  tread  through  the  long  nights  of  the 
Paris  winter. 

Julian  loved  these  wintry  nights  and  the  gloom 
of  these  Northern  skies ;  he  felt  also  a  sense  of 
security  here,  away  from  the  treachery  of  Con- 
stantius's  court,  and  the  fawning  insincerity  of  the 
chamberlain.  Here  was  no  amphitheatre  or  arena 
for  gladiators,  so  abhorred  by  the  purer  tastes  of 
the  Prince ;  he  could  spend  his  nights  in  study ; 
and  together  with  his  learned  physician,  Oribasius, 
he  established  an  Academy  in  the  little  city. 

He  loved  the  frank  and  genial  character  of  the 
Parisians.  They  worshipped  Venus  and  Bacchus, 
but  not  with  the  insolence  and  obscenity  of  the  old 


194  PAETHENIA. 

cities  of  Greece  and  Borne,  and  Julian,  had  he  been 
ready  publicly  to  declare  himself  a  Pagan,  would 
not  have  been  offended  with  the  impurity  of  their 
worship  in  this  Northern  city. 

Let  us  return  for  a  moment  to  the  court  of  Milan, 
where  the  courtiers  and  eunuchs  are  assembled. 
The  deep  red  angry  spot  still  burnt  upon  the  cheeks 
of  the  Emperor ;  couriers  had  arrived  from  Gaul, 
and  from  the  Prince,  but  the  watchful  Empress  was 
no  longer  there  to  unveil  the  secret  malice  of  his 
enemies.  She  had  died  suddenly,  and  not  without 
suspicion  of  poison,  and  now  another  wife  gave  the 
Emperor  the  promise  of  an  heir. 

The  populace  had  learned  the  news,  and  the 
angry  courtiers,  as  they  sat  in  the  presence-cham 
ber,  heard  the  victories  of  Julian  proclaimed 
through  the  streets,  and  listened  to  by  the  ex 
cited  populace. 

"  Thirty  thousand  of  the  people  of  Gaul,  with 
their  wives  and  their  children,  who  had  been 
made  prisoners,  are  restored  to  their  homes ! " 
cried  a  man  who  stood  upon  the  highest  steps  of 
a  temple.  The  populace  threw  up  their  caps  and 
shouted. 

"  The  whole  Rhine  is  now  at  peace,  and  subject 
to  Rome,"  cried  another. 


PAETHENIA.  195 

" Let  us  go  to  the  Rhine,  the  Rhine,  the  Rhine!" 
they  shouted. 

"  Silence !  "  cried  a  hundred  voices,  "  let  us  hear 
more." 

"  The  cities  which  had  been  destroyed  have 
been  rebuilt  at  the  expense  of  those  who  destroyed 
them,"  proclaimed  the  same  man  from  the  steps  of 
the  temple. 

"  Houses  must  be  dirt  cheap,"  they  cried ;  "let 
the  houseless  in  Milan  move  off,  and  Julian  will 
give  them  shelter,"  —  and  they  sent  up  a  tremen 
dous  shout  of  "  Julian,  Julian  for  ever  !  " 

"  Silence  !  hear  what  the  Prince  has  done.  He 
has  built  immense  granaries  all  along  the  Rhine 
to  store  the  corn  to  feed  his  armies." 

"  Yes,  and  he  brought  this  corn  from  Britain,  a 
country  where  the  sun  never  shines,  in  ships  built 
at  his  own  expense,"  cried  another. 

"  And  all  for  the  love  of  his  army,"  they  shouted. 

"  And  all  this  before  he  is  thirty  years  old." 

"Thirty!"  screamed  a  woman,  "he  is  not  yet 
twenty-eight.  He  was  born  the  very  day  with  my 
own  blessed  son,  who  is  now  in  Hades." 

While  the  people  exulted  in  the  success  of  Julian, 
and  proclaimed  his  victories  through  the  streets  of 
Milan,  Constantius  had  the  meanness  to  appropriate 
the  glory,  and  take  the  merit  to  himself.  Sending 


196  PARTHENIA. 

letters  crowned  with  laurel  to  all  the  provinces,  he 
put  his  own  name  in  the  place  Julian's  should  have 
filled.  By  this  artifice  no  one  was  deceived,  and 
contempt  only  fell  upon  himself. 

The  enemies  of  the  Prince  now  took  a  more  sub 
tle  method;  instead  of  depreciating  his  merits,  they 
exaggerated  his  fame,  his  talents,  his  important  ser 
vices,  but  insinuated  that,  with  the  army  so  devoted 
ly  attached  to  his  interests,  he  could  mould  them  to 
his  will,  and  soon  place  himself  in  opposition  to  the 
Emperor.  "  Deprive  him  of  his  army,"  said  one, 
"  and  he  will  be  powerless," 

"  He  is  no  true  Roman,"  said  another,  "  should 
he  deny  his  best  troops  to  serve  the  exigencies  of 
the  state." 

"  By  this  he  can  prove  his  loyalty,"  said  the 
eunuch.  "  Should  he  refuse,  he  is  a  traitor  to 
Rome  and  to  your  Majesty." 

"So  let  it  be,"  said  the  Emperor. 

A  tribune  and  other  officers  were  instantly  de 
spatched  to  Julian,  with  orders  for  him  to  send  to 
the  Emperor  four  entire  legions ;  and  also  that  from 
each  of  the  remaining  bands  three  hundred  of  the 
best  and  bravest  youths  should  be  selected  for  the 
service  of  the  Emperor  in  Milan.  No  treachery 
or  injustice  towards  the  Prince  could  be  greater ; 
as  these,  the  best  of  his  soldiers,  had  been  enlisted 


PARTHENIA.  197 

with  tho  express  condition  that  they  should  never 
leave  their  wives  and  children,  nor  be  compelled 
to  cross  the  Alps  into  Italy.  The  attachment  of 
the  Gaul  to  the  small  circle  of  his  home  was  riv 
eted  by  the  simple  pleasures  of  his  life  and  the 
few  but  intense  objects  of  his  interest,  and  to 
compel  him  to  leave  them  was  like  tearing  soul 
from  body. 

Julian  had  gone  up  to  his  observatory  ;  the  night 
was  starless,  and  no  planetary  influence  could  be 
relied  on.  He  was  already  absorbed  in  his  mid 
night  studies,  when  he  was  startled  by  the  horns  of 
the  couriers  breaking  upon  the  silence  of  night. 
He  ordered  the  messengers  to  be  brought  into  his 
presence.  He  was  now  informed  that  the  commands 
of  the  Emperor  were  not  addressed  to  him,  but  to 
the  Grand  Ecuyer,  and  conceived  in  terms  outra 
geously  insulting  to  the  Caesar. 

Never  was  situation  more  embarrassing.  If  he 
refused  the  demand  of  the  Emperor,  he  would  sub 
ject  himself  to  the  imputation  of  treason,  and  there 
were  many  already  watching  to  accuse  him ;  if  he 
complied,  he  would  leave  himself  and  the  Gauls  at 
the  mercy  of  the  Barbarians;  besides,  he  had  given 
his  sacred  word  to  the  troops  enlisted  in  Gaul,  that 
they  should  not  be  sent  beyond  the  Alps ;  many  of 
It* 


198  PARTHENIA. 

them,  who  had  wives  and  children,  had  entered  the 
army  relying  upon  that  promise. 

As  the  morning  advanced  the  tumult  increased, 
and  as  Julian  descended  the  steps  of  his  palace,  he 
found  the  avenues  thronged  by  the  people  and  the 
soldiers.  The  soldiers'  wives  pressed  around  him, 
holding  up  their  infants  and  crying  aloud,  repeating 
his  promise  that  they  should  not  be  sent  across  the 
Alps,  and  beseeching  him  not  to  abandon  them. 

He  ascended  an  eminence,  and  with  all  his  flu 
ent  eloquence  and  impassioned  manner  addressed  a 
few  words  to  them.  He  said,  there  was  only  one 
course  for  him,  and  for  them,  —  they  must  obey  the 
Emperor ;  not  to  do  so  would  be  sedition,  nay  trea 
son.  "  For  myself,"  he  added,  "  I  shall  resign  all 
command,  and  never  act  more  in  public.  I  wait 
only  for  the  return  of  my  officers  to  do  so." 

Consternation  kept  the  soldiers  silent,  and  Julian, 
finding  the  tumult  subsiding,  promised  the  soldiers 
an  extra  subsidy,  and  to  provide  wagons  to  carry 
their  wives  and  children  across  the  Alps. 


199 


CHAPTER   XIX. 

THE  CONSPIRACY. 

THE  halls  of  the  palace  were  brilliantly  illuminat 
ed,  and  the  light  of  countless  lamps  reflected  in  the 
silent  river  as  it  flowed  softly  beneath  the  windows. 
The  Prince  gave  a  banquet  to  the  officers  of  the 
troops  which  were  to  leave  him  on  the  morrow. 
Two  officers  closely  disguised  were  walking  stealth 
ily  along  the  margin  of  the  river,  evidently  seeking 
concealment.  "  Are  all  things  ready  ?  "  whispered 
one. 

"  The  tablets  are  prepared  and  ready  to  be  placed 
on  the  couches  of  the  leading  men  at  the  right  mo 
ment,  and  each  has  his  cue." 

"  Nothing  must  be  hinted  till  the  Prince  has  left 
the  room,"  said  the  first. 

"  Then  we  must  take  care  that  the  leaders  do  not 
drink  too  much." 

"  The  boys  are  charged  to  put  double  measures 
of  Neptune's  element  into  the  more  generous  gift 
of  Bacchus." 


200  PARTHENIA. 

"  Julian  has  been  questioning  the  augurs  and  as 
trologers  again.  I  swear  by  the  terrible  sisters,  the 
first  will  give  him  all  he  wants." 

"And  he  will  interpret  the  others  just  as  his 
wishes  tend." 

"  It  is  astonishing  how  these  occult  powers  agree 
•with  the  wishes  of  those  who  consult  them." 

"  Hush !  Do  you  then  think  he  seeks  what  we 
are  determined  he  shall  have  ?  " 

"  Was  there  ever  an  eye  like  his,  and  ambition 
did  not  hide  beneath  ?  "  said  the  first  speaker. 

"  We  shall  see,"  said  the  other.  "  Caesar  thrice 
refused  the  crown." 

"  Our  Ca3sar  will  refuse  it  but  once.  A  divine 
voice,  he  says,  accompanies  him.  Let  him  hear 
that  voice  whispering,  and  he  is  ours." 

The  second  officer  laughed  incredulously,  and 
soon  after  both  entered  the  banqueting-room. 

It  was  past  midnight.  Julian  did  not  leave  the 
banquet  till  he  had  spoken  to  every  officer,  even  of 
the  lowest  grade ;  he  had  promised  the  soldiers  that, 
as  they  defiled  by  the  palace  next  day,  he  would  ap 
pear  and  receive  their  final  adieus. 

As  he  returned  to  his  own  apartment,  he  met  one 
of  the  handmaids  of  Helena,  and  inquired  for  his 
wife,  who  was  ill.  She  had  retired  to  their  sleep 
ing-chamber,  and  he  betook  himself  to  another 


PAETHENIA.  201 

apartment,  which  looked  out  upon  the  altar  of  Ju 
piter,  standing  near  the  Seine.  Julian  endeavored 
to  pierce  the  murky  night,  through  whose  gloom 
the  flame  upon  the  altar  could  hardly  struggle.  A 
few  faint  stars  were  seen  through  the  openings  of 
the  clouds,  and  the  sounds  of  revelry  from  the  hall 
reached  dully  upon  his  ears.  The  rushing,  hurry 
ing  clouds  were  a  fit  emblem  of  the  thoughts  cast 
ing  alternate  gloom  and  glow  upon  the  mind  of 
Julian.  Should  he  submit  to  the  loss  of  his  best 
soldiers,  and  so  undo  all  the  good  he  had  effected 
in  Gaul,  or  should  he  disobey  the  Emperor,  and  kin 
dle  a  civil  war  between  them  ? 

"  What  had  there  ever  been  but  war  between 
them  ?  "  asked  Julian. 

He  called  a  page,  and  sent  for  his  physician  Ori- 
basius. 

"  Not  yet  in  bed,  my  Prince  ?  "  he  asked  as  he 
entered. 

"No,  Oribasius ;  you  see  a  man  whose  nights 
henceforth  will  be  his  own,  to  give  to  sweet  Poesy, 
and  her  sterner  sister  Philosophy.  I  have  done 
with  the  cares  of  the  state." 

"  He  who  is  sure  of  the  purity  of  his  motives  of 
action  can  scarcely  go  wrong,  whatever  path  he 
takes,"  said  the  physician. 

"  I  have  no  foothold  left.  Bereft  of  my  best  sol 
diers,  all  I  have  done  falls  into  ruin." 


202  PAETHENIA. 

"  Honor  and  conscience  are  left,  my  Prince,  and 
with  wisdom  and  courage  you  can  meet  every 
event." 

"  Most  learned  Joseph !  interpreter  of  dreams ! 
give  me  the  solution  of  this  night's  vigil,"  said  the 
Prince. 

"  A  waking  dream !  But  must  I  give  both  dream 
and  interpretation,  my  Prince  ?  " 

"  Ah !  I  forget.  To  your  other  gifts  you  add 
that  of  divination.  Methought  the  Genius  of  the 
Empire  stood  before  me,  arrayed  in  pure  white  with 
wings  of  purple.  His  form  was  that  of  a  beautiful 
youth,  like  Apollo,  or  that  favored  being,  the  com 
panion  of  Psyche,  and  he  offered  me  the  crown ; 
thrice  I  retreated,  and  thrice  he  pressed  it  upon  me. 
Then  in  a  tone  of  reproach  he  said,  < It  is  a  long 
time,  Julian,  that  I  have  stood  concealed  at  thy 
portal  desiring  alone  thy  elevation.  Thou  hast 
forced  me  many  times  to  retire.  If  now  thou 
shouldst  refuse  to  receive  me,  grieving,  I  shall 
leave  thee.  Remember,  it  is  but  a  little  time  that 
we  can  be  together  ! '  Fearful  of  myself,  I  turned 
to  fly,  and  met  those  dreaded  forms,  the  three  sisters 
who  control  the  destiny  of  mortals.  She  who  held 
the  fatal  shears  stood  with  them  open  to  cut  my 
thread  of  life  !  I  awoke.  Interpret,  most  learned 
among  the  wise !  " 


PARTHENIA.  203 

A  shade  of  sorrow  passed  over  the  brow  of  the 
physician,  but  at  length  he  said :  "  That  power  to 
which  we  give  the  name  of  Destiny,  my  Prince,  is  but 
the  secret,  long-cherished  desire,  moulding  the  char 
acter,  and  at  length  giving  a  direction  to  events." 

"  Ah  no  !  "  said  the  Prince,  impatiently.  "  '  The 
light  car  of  our  destiny  is  borne  on  by  the  sun- 
steeds  of  time,  and  lashed  by  invisible  spirits, — 
we  run  our  course,  and  whether  the  goal  be  death 
or  glory,  the  mortal  hand  cannot  hold  the  reins  to 
see.'  *  What  now  does  it  concern  either  Gods  or 
men,  that  I  have  spent  the  best  years  of  my  life  in 
moulding  this  wild  people  into  a  civilized  nation  ? 
The  Emperor  withdraws  my  troops,  and  we  are 
again  overwhelmed  by  these  wild  Barbarians.  Thus 
we  strive,  and  a  breath  from  our  overruling  destiny 
sinks  the  scale,  and  all  is  over.  Were  I  a  true 
Nazarene,  the  wildest  monastery,  a  thousand  miles 
above  Alexandria,  should  be  my  retreat." 

"  What  a  splendid  opportunity  to  study  Plato 
and  Plotinus ! "  said  Oribasius ;  "  but,  the  Gods  be 
thanked,  the  heroism  of  self-abnegation  does  not 
belong  to  my  Prince." 

Julian  threw  open  the  window  towards  the  east, 
where  a  small  temple  to  Helios  had  been  erected  by 
himself.  Faint  streaks  of  light  began  to  divide  the 

*  Goethe. 


204  PARTHENIA. 

clouds  as  ho  stood  ready  for  his  prayer  at  the  first 
darted  sunbeam.  He  started,  and  turned  to  Ori- 
basius.  "  Were  the  guards  at  their  posts  when 
you  entered  ?  "  But  before  he  could  be  answered, 
Nebridius,  the  Praetorian  Prefect,  rushed  pale  and 
breathless  into  the  apartment.  "  Prince !  "  he  cried, 
"  stand  firm,  and  refuse  what  they  demand,  or  fly  ! 
My  for  your  honor,  before  hesitation  becomes  trea 
son  !  We  will  protect  your  retreat !  "  Fire,  and  a 
noble  scorn,  flashed  from  the  eyes  of  Julian.  "  Still 
this  tumult,"  he  cried  to  the  guard,  "  and  bar  the 
doors." 

"  Singly,  in  the  midst  of  that  armed  and  angry 
multitude,  have  I  opposed  the  troops,  who,  driven 
to  madness  by  the  demand  of  the  Emperor,  swear 
to  devote  themselves  to  the  Prince  alone,"  said 
Nebridius.  "  Unseconded,  I  asserted  the  right  of 
Constantius,  and  cried  out,  Sedition  and  treason  !  " 

Oribasius  turned  coldly  from  him.  "  You  alone," 
he  said,  "  deserted  the  Prince  !  " 

"  He  was  right,"  said  Julian;  "  if  the  Prefect  was 
alone  there,  he  is  not  alone  here.  I  stand  on  his 
side,  and  assert  the  right  of  Constantius.  But  what 
has  happened  ?  Answer,  Nebridius !  '* 

"  At  the  moment  when  the  officers  were  most 
heated  with  wine,  skilfully  worded  tablets  were 
thrown  among  them,  crying  out  against  the  ty- 


PARTHENIA.  205 

ranny  of  Constantius,  lauding  the  virtues  of  Julian, 
who,  they  said,  was  betrayed  by  the  Emperor.  Just 
then  a  loud  voice  exclaimed,  '  Soldiers  !  brothers  in 
arms !  let  us  swear  by  the  Immortal  Gods  to  stand 
by  the  Prince ;  he  alone  is  worthy  to  reign."  At 
that  moment  the  helmet  of  the  Caesar,  with  its 
laurel  wreath,  which  he  had  accidentally  left  in 
the  banquet-hall,  was  raised  on  high,  the  officers 
thronged  around  it,  and  swore  homage  upon  their 
knees,  and,  rising,  drew  their  swords  and  crossed 
them ;  the  Christians  swearing,  upon  the  cross  thus 
formed,  eternal  fidelity  to  the  Prince.  Hark !  I 
hear  them  approaching !  hundreds  of  feet  are  beat 
ing  the  pavement  of  the  atrium !  " 

"  The  doors  are  barred !  "  cried  Julian,  pale  as 
death,  not  from  fear,  but  from  the  momentous  im 
portance  of  the  hour.  But  now  he  gave  orders  to 
open  them  to  admit  the  soldiers. 

Julian  saw,  as  they  entered,  his  well-tried,  veteran 
soldiers,  and  there  was  that  in  their  aspect  which 
said  there  was  no  retreat ;  they  had  ventured  their 
all  upon  this  cast,  and  whatever  the  result  as  to 
Julian,  for  them  there  was  no  going  back.  The 
Prince  began  an  oration,  the  soldiers  clashed  their 
swords  upon  their  shields  and  cried  out,  that  they 
wanted  no  Greek,  no  philosophy,  they  wanted  him 
at  their  head ! 

18 


206  PARTHENIA. 

The  Prefect,  Nebridius,  ordered  the  guards  who 
remained  loyal  to  attach  the  ringleaders,  and  take 
them  off  to  prison,  or  to  instant  execution.  Upon 
this  order  a  hundred  swords  were  flashing  in  the 
eyes  of  the  Prefect,  and  one  of  the  most  auda 
cious  struck  his  hand,  and  severed  it  from  his 
arm.  "Hold!  Barbarians  !  "  cried  Julian.  "Let 
every  sword  be  instantly  returned  to  its  scabbard. 
Is  this  the  way  to  gain  my  consent,  by  wounding 
my  friends  in  my  presence  ?  "  and  he  took  off  his 
mantle  and  threw  it  over  the  Prefect,  who  had*  em 
braced  his  knees  for  protection. 

"  Nebridius  is  no  friend,"  they  cried  ;  "  he  is  the 
friend  of  Constantius,  but  he  is  sacred  under  the 
mantle  of  the  Caesar," — and,  still  protecting  him, 
Julian  sent  him  with  a  guard  to  his  own  house. 

The  Prince,  finding  they  would  neither  listen  to 
him  nor  his  friends,  said  he  would  retire  and  con 
sult  the  will  of  the  Gods.  But  not  without  an  oath 
that  he  would  return  before  the  water-clock  had 
dropped  out  the  hour,  would  they  allow  him  to 
leave  them.  Julian  declares,  in  his  letter  to  the 
Athenians,  that  he  did  not  consent  to  the  wishes  of 
the  soldiers  till  he  received  an  answer  from  the 
Gods;  that  they,  the  Gods,  commanded  him  no 
longer  to  oppose  the  wishes  of  the  army,  but  to 
assume  the  imperial  power. 


PARTHENIA.  207 

The  tumult  increased,  and  seemed  prevailing 
throughout  the  palace  ;  they  therefore  hastened 
the  return  of  the  Prince  to  his  soldiers.  They 
saw  instantly  from  his  aspect  that  the  answer  of 
the  Gods  had  been  propitious,  and  they  cried  out 
for  a  diadem ! 

"A  crown!  a  crown !"  was  uttered  by  a  hun 
dred  voices.  "Let  the  Caesar  Augustus  be  crowned 
instantly,  and  receive  our  homage,  here,  upon  the 
spot ! " 

«  Where  shall  we  find  a  diadem  ?  "  "  Surely," 
they  cried,  "  the  caskets  of  the  Empress  are  not 
empty!" 

The  jewel-boxes  of  Helena  and  of  the  officers' 
wives  were  sought,  and  an  ornament  in  the  form 
of  a  tiara,  worn  by  Julian's  wife,  was  produced. 

"  No,"  cried  the  Prince,  "  no  female  ornament ! 
The  pageantry  of  vanity  shall  not  encircle  my 
brow !  " 

"  Here,"  cried  an  officer,  "  is  a  collar  studded 
with  jewels,  belonging  to  the  caparison  of  a  noble 
steed."  "  No  vanity  can  sully  this,"  they  said  ;  but 
the  superstitious  Emperor  shrank  from  the  sem 
blance  of  a  crown,  worn  by  an  animal  without 
reason.  At  length  a  collar  of  great  value  was 
found  upon  the  neck  of  Maurus,  a  spearsman,  and 
offered  to  Julian.  "  Ah,  this  is  a  brave  soldier's 


208  PARTHENIA. 

ornament,"  cried  the  Prince,  "  and  will  bring  no 
disgrace  to  another  soldier!  "  —  and  lie  placed  it  011 
his  head.  A  deafening  shout  arose,  and  the  soldiers 
rushed  forth  to  do  him  homage  upon  their  knees. 

With  a  majesty  he  knew  well  how  to  assume,  the 
Emperor  forbade  this  act.  But  something  they 
must  do.  "  A  shield  !  a  shield !  "  they  shouted. 
Instantly  he  was  raised  in  the  air  upon  a  shield 
borne  upon  the  shoulders  of  the  men,  shouting, 
"  Cassar  Augustus  !  Julian  !  Emperor  !  "  Thus 
was  he  carried  around  the  camp  amid  the  clash 
ing  arms  and  shouts  of  the  army.  "  0  Plato  !  " 
cried  Julian,  "what  ignominy  for  a  philosopher !  " 

When  he  returned  to  the  palace,  his  friends  and 
attendants  observed  the  pallor  and  dejection  of  his 
countenance.  He  desired  to  be  alone,  and  shut 
himself  into  an  upper  room,  that  room  which 
looked  out  upon  the  altar  of  Jupiter,  where  he 
spent  the  day  in  solitude.  As  the  evening  twi 
light  gathered,  and  the  trees  shut  out  the  crimson 
glow  of  the  western  sky,  those  who  looked  for  the 
new  Emperor  could  see  that  he  was  pacing  the 
sheltered  walk  along  the  margin  of  the  Seine.  The 
murmur  of  the  river  as  it  lapsed  along  its  banks, 
and  the  music  of  ^Eolian  harps  formed  by  the 
cypress-trees,  soothed  him  into  a  tranquillity  of 
spirits  that  he  had  not  felt  since  the  arrival  of 


PAETHENIA.  209 

the  Emperor's  orders.  The  mystical  element  of 
Julian's  character,  his  faith  in  overruling  influ 
ences,  in  a  destiny  whose  decrees  were  irresistible, 
in  aid  of  that  vain  self-exaltation  which  made  him 
believe  himself  a  favorite  of  the  Gods,  took  pos- 
ssesion  of  his  mind,  and  composed  it  to  tranquil 
acquiescence.  The  Gods,  whose  will  it  was  that 
he  should  govern  this  great  Roman  Empire,  had 
thus  converted,  as  he  believed,  the  blind  instinct 
of  the  soldiers  into  their  own  instrument  to  accom 
plish  their  purpose. 

Now,  then,  he  bound  himself  anew  to  re-erect 
their  altars,  to  repair  their  temples,  to  renew  their 
sacrifices,  and  make  their  worship  the  sole  religion 
of  this  vast  Empire. 

The  next  day  the  new  Emperor  ascended  the 
throne  in  his  imperial  robes,  and  with  all  the 
majesty  becoming  the  true  Cassar  Augustus.  The 
fasces  and  the  axe  were  borne  before  him,  and 
although  he  continued  to  wear  the  soldier's  collar 
as  a  diadem,  the  majesty  of  his  countenance  lent 
to  it  a  glory  surpassing  the  gems  of  the  royal  crown. 

All  those  who  had  been  enemies,  as  well  as  the 
friends  of  the  Prince,  pressed  around  him  for  par 
don,  employment,  and  favor.  He  declared,  in  the 
same  manner  as  he  who,  upon  the  same  spot, 
imitated  him  fifteen  centuries  afterwards,  that, 

18* 


210  PARTHENIA. 

without  regard  to  precedent  or  favor,  he  should 
bestow  on  merit  alone  all  employments,  both  civil 
and  military.  This  declaration  flattered  and  ex 
cited  the  simple  soldiers,  who  henceforth  believed 
that  they  had  the  right  to  aspire  to  everything. 

Next,  he  offered  pardon  to  all  those  who  had 
opposed  and  conspired  against  him,  even  to  that 
eunuch  who  had  pledged  himself  to  his  assassi 
nation.  Nebridius,  the  Pra3torian  Prefect,  who  had 
openly  declared  himself  the  enemy  of  Julian,  now 
besought  him  on  his  knees  to  give  him  his  hand  to 
kiss,  as  a  pledge  of  his  favor.  Julian  withdrew  his 
hand,  saying,  "  If  I  give  you  my  hand,  what  pledge 
shall  I  have  for  those  who  arc  really  attached  to 
me  ?  But  you  have  nothing  to  fear,  —  retire  wher 
ever  you  please." 

Having  thus  despatched  his  most  pressing  affairs, 
the  Prince  retired  to  his  library  to  perform  the  del 
icate  duty  of  preparing  an  embassy  for  Constantius. 

The  secretaries  were  summoned,  and  sat,  style  in 
hand,  while  the  Prince,  embarrassed  and  uncertain, 
walked  the  apartment. 

Oribasius,  his  physician,  was  called  to  aid  him, 
and  Mardonius  also.  Julian  was  not  ashamed  to 
ask  this  guardian  of  his  infancy  in  what  terms  he 
should  write  to  the  Emperor. 

"  Write  to  him,  my  Prince,"  he  said,  "  in  a  style 


PARTHENIA.  211 

at  once  firm  and  modest,  as  a  man  who  does  not 
fear  his  anger,  but  wishes  sincerely  for  his.  friend 
ship." 

"  Ah  !  "  said  Oribasius,  "  the  friendship  of  the 
wolf  for  the  lamb !  the  sincere  friendship  he  has 
shown  for  all  his  relations." 

Julian  turned  to  the  secretaries.  "  Say  that  I  en 
treat  him  to  believe,  that  the  good  of  the  empire 
demands  that  we  should  be  united  in  friendship, 
as  we  are  in  blood.'7 

"  Promise  him  some  Spanish  horses,  and  a  legion 
of  barbarians  to  swell  his  army,"  said  the  librarian. 

"  I  foresee  only  his  rage  and  violence,"  said  Ju 
lian,  "  and  the  empire  rent  again  by  civil  war.  But 
the  soldiers  without  pay,  without  reward  of  any 
kind,  half  naked,  tired  of  gaining  battles,  which  are 
a  pure  loss  to  them,  driven  to  frenzy  at  last  by 
the  order  which  tore  them  from  their  wives  and 
children  to  carry  them  across  the  Alps,  to  a  coun 
try  where  they  surely  believed  they  should  die  —  " 

"  Let  these  things  be  urged  as  their  motive  for 
compelling  his  unworthy  cousin  to  put  on  the  horse- 
collar,"  said  Oribasius. 

"  No,"  said  Julian,  taking  it  off,  "  it  is  after  all 
an  honest  soldier's  ornament,  not  so  paltry  as  the 
real  bawble,  for  which  so  many  have  lost  their 
heads." 


212  PARTHENIA. 

"  Tell  him,"  said  Mardonius,  "  to  thank  the  Gods 
for  giving  him  a  man  to  share  his  empire  who  has 
twice  the  brains,  and  six  times  the  prudence,  which 
he  possesses." 

"  Tell  him,  said  Julian,  "  that  he  may  appoint 
the  prefects,  but  that  I  claim  the  right,  by  the  ap 
pointment  of  other  officers,  to  reward  those  who 
have  shed  their  blood  for  me." 

In  the  midst  of  these  contradictory  orders  the 
official  letter  was  finished,  and  inscribed  by  the 
modest  appellation  of  "  Csesar,"  and  ambassadors 
appointed  to  present  it  to  the  Emperor. 

Julian  and  Mardonius  were  left  alone,  when  the 
old  man  approached,  threw  himself  upon  his  knees, 
and  embraced  those  of  Julian. 

"  What  does  this  mean  ?  "  cried  the  Prince. 
"  Eise,  my  father ;  that  posture  is  not  fitting  for 
you  or  me.  Rather  should  we  exchange  positions, 
and  I  remain  at  your  knees." 

"Prince  !  I  read  your  intention,"  cried  the  other. 
"  The  humble  letter,  the  letter  for  the  public  ear,  is 
sent ;  but  in  the  other,  meant  for  Constantius  alone, 
you  will  permit  yourself  to  pour  out  the  bitterness 
of  your  soul,  in  invectives  and  reproaches  which 
will  kindle  again  these  cruel  civil  wars,  sow  again 
the  dragon's  teeth  upon  the  field  you  have  so 
nobly  reaped." 


PARTHENIA.  213 

"  What !  would  you  have  me,  like  the  abject  Gal 
ilean,  when  smitten  on  the  one  cheek,  turn  to  him 
the  other  also  ?  Whatever  we  may  write,  Constan- 
tius  will  find  pretext  and  occasion  to  destroy  us." 

"  Remember  Themistocles  and  his  Athenians," 
said  Mardonius,  —  "  c  Nothing  can  be  more  advan 
tageous,  but  nothing  more  unjust.' ' 

"  Ah !  we  are  not  Athenians !  Beside,  I  claim 
no  more  than  I  already  possess,  not  solely  by  the 
unanimous  voice  of  the  people  and  the  army,  but 
by  the  permission  of  Constantius  himself.  But,  my 
father,  your  admonition  comes  too  late.  Both  let 
ters  are  on  their  way,  and  must  be  left  to  the  speed 
of  my  ambassadors,  and  the  disposition  in  which 
they  may  find  the  Emperor."  And  Julian,  embra 
cing  his  faithful  servant,  left  the  apartment. 


214 


CHAPTER    XX. 
ANTIOCH. 

ANTIOCH,  the  eastern  centre  of  Greek  fashion 
and  Roman  sensuality,  enclosed  within  its  walls 
more  of  ancient  luxury  and  ancient  corruption  than 
any  city  of  its  size.  The  rapid  and  rather  turbid 
stream  of  the  Orontes  washed  the  foundations  of  its 
palaces,  as  it  rushed  by,  connecting  them  with  the 
Mediterranean,  through  the  harbor  of  Seleucia. 
Caravans,  traversing  the  open  plains  on  the  other 
side  of  Lebanon,  and  passing  between  the  ranges 
of  Lebanon  and  Taurus,  brought  all  the  riches  of 
Arabia,  and  the  merchandise  of  Mesopotamia,  to  the 
doors  of  the  luxurious  inhabitants. 

The  city,  rising  high  upon  the  basis  of  the  moun 
tains,  was  environed  by  gardens,  blossoming  with 
the  luxuriant  vegetation  of  the  South,  bringing  the 
fragrance  of  Arabia  to  mingle  with  the  cool  breezes 
of  the  Mediterranean  Sea.  The  streets,  intersecting 
at  right  angles,  were  lined  with  a  double  colonnade 


PARTHENIA.  215 

of  marble  pillars,  and  at  each  crossing  a  gorgeoiis 
fountain  threw  high  its  refreshing  waters.  The 
aqueducts,  the  baths,  and  numerous  theatres,  showed 
that  the  Antiochians  understood  the  means  of  lux 
ury  as  well  as  the  arts  of  pleasure  ;  but  in  their 
midst  arose  the  noble  Christian  church,  proclaim 
ing,  that  in  the  centre  of  the  seducing  pleasures  of 
heathenism,  "  in  Antioch,  were  the  disciples  first 
called  Christians." 

Parthenia  had  left  Athens,  after  three  years  of 
service  in  the  temple,  to  join  her  father  in  Antioch. 
As  she  passed  through  the  magnificent  streets,  on 
her  way  to  her  father's  house,  her  eye  was  arrested 
by  the  octagon  church,  dedicated  to  Christ.  The 
open  door  showed  the  pavement  of  precious  marbles, 
the  walls  sparkling  with  gems  and  pictures.  She 
contrasted  this  grandeur  with  the  humble  dwelling 
of  Albinus,  where  she  had  first  witnessed  the  sweet 
ness  and  simplicity  of  Christian  worship.  She  had 
read  the  manuscript  of  the  Gospel  put  into  her 
hand  at  that  time,  but,  accustomed  to  Greek  ele 
gance,  the  simplicity  of  these  Scriptures  and  their 
lowly  subjects  offended  her  taste,  and  shocked  her 
pride  of  intellect.  She  there  learnt,  that  the  hum 
ble  and  poor  of  spirit  should  enter  first  into  the 
kingdom  of  the  blessed ;  that  the  master  and  the 
slave  were  judged  by  the  same  law ;  that  the 


216  PARTHENIA. 

wicked,  and  certain  women  whom  from  her  irre 
proachable  purity  she  loathed,  were  admitted  to 
the  presence  of  Jesus,  and  wept  at  his  feet.  She 
was  not  yet  prepared  to  receive  the  humble  lessons 
of  Christianity.  She  was  not  yet  ready  to  sit  at  the 
feet  of  the  Crucified,  and  to  say,  "  Not  I,  but  tliou ; 
not  as  I  would,  but  as  thou  wilt."  The  fear  of 
ridicule  and  of  worldly  shame  was  not  yet  swept 
out  of  her  heart.  But  she  resolved  that  she  would 
examine  for  herself.  She  would  see  with  her  own 
eyes,  and  hear  with  her  own  ears.  She  would  put 
aside  her  Grecian  fastidiousness  of  taste,  and  enter 
that  temple  of  the  Galilean. 

Not  many  days  passed  before  she  entered  with 
the  worshippers  into  the  Christian  church.  Her  as 
tonishment  was  great  at  the  gorgeous  ornament  of 
every  part.  The  precious  marbles  wrought  with 
Grecian  art ;  the  pillars  encrusted  with  jewels ; 
Christian  symbols  gemmed  upon  the  walls ;  the 
cross,  the  palm,  the  dove,  and  the  serpent  as  the 
emblem  of  sin,  were  there.  It  presented  a  con 
trast  indeed  to  the  severe  simplicity  of  the  heathen 
temples ;  but  the  Christian  emblems  were  without 
meaning  to  her,  as  well  as  the  spiritual  ideas  of 
Christianity,  which  had  begun  to  be  expressed  in 
its  churches.  The  altar  bore  the  symbolic  cups, 
and  the  lamb  in  purest  silver;  while  a  wreath  of 
incense  rose  perpetually,  like  a  voiceless  prayer. 


PARTHENIA.  217 

Women  were  kneeling  at  the  steps  of  the  altar. 
Parthenia  threaded  her  way  upwards,  led  on  by  the 
marble  form  of  Christ,  which  looked  down  with  be 
nignant  expression  upon  the  group  of  suppliants. 
This  statue  was  wrought  with  less  perfection  than 
those  of  the  Gods  she  had  worshipped  upon  her  own 
heathen  altars,  but  there  was  in  the  face  an  expres 
sion  of  human  love,  of  tender  pity,  and  divine  pa 
tience,  which  made  her  long  to  know  something 
more  of  him  it  represented.  She  knelt,  and  uncon 
sciously  a  prayer  for  help  was  breathed  in  whispers 
from  her  lips. 

She  was  not  conscious  that  her  robe  (she  yet 
wore  her  dress  of  priestess)  had  swept  that  of 
another  woman,  kneeling  by  her  side,  till  she  saw 
her  carefully  remove  herself  from  the  contact,  and 
look  at  her  as  though  defiled  by  the  touch.  Par 
thenia  raised  her  eyes  to  the  face  of  the  other.  She 
was  a  woman  of  humble  presence  but  of  beautiful 
features,  where  there  was  an  expression  of  stern  aver 
sion,  which  said :  "  Stand  aside,  I  am  holier  than 
thou !  thy  contact  is  offensive  to  me ! "  They  turned 
from  each  other  in  mutual  dislike.  A  stern  intol 
erance  began  early  to  incrust  the  melting  heart  of 
Christian  love. 

Antioch,  in  comparison  with  Athens,  might  be 
called  a  Christian  city.  The  bells  rung  to  early 

19 


218  PARTHENIA. 

prayers.  Bishops  and  presbyters,  gorgeously  at 
tired,  drove  their  white  mules,  attached  by  golden 
harness  to  their  carriages,  through  the  streets. 
Crowds  of  scantily  robed  monks,  with  bare  heads 
and  sandalled  feet,  were  met  by  processions  of  cate 
chumens  on  their  way  to  receive  Christian  baptism. 
Parthenia's  attention  was  arrested  by  frequent  pro 
cessions  of  high-born  ladies,  bearing  food  and  wine 
and  garments  outside  the  city,  to  place  upon  the 
tombs  of  the  martyrs,  ready  for  wandering  beggars, 
for  the  destitute,  the  sick,  the  famished ;  this  class 
of  people  being  forbidden  to  enter  the  already  crowd 
ed  city. 

The  Grecian  maiden  no  longer  enjoyed  the  calm 
and  tranquil  hours  that  filled  her  Athenian  life  with 
the  repose  of  beautiful  forms,  varied  by  the  excite 
ment  of  poetry  and  soothed  by  the  charm  of  music. 
She  saw  that  the  Christian  woman's  life  was  filled 
with  thought  and  care  for  others,  and  often  with 
complete  self-denial,  and  even  abnegation  of  self. 
She  had  not  entered  the  church  since  she  was  re 
pulsed  at  the  altar;  she  resolved,  however,  to  follow 
the  Christian  women,  to  see  what  constituted  their 
employment  outside  the  walls  of  the  city. 

Passing  with  her  attendants  beyond  the  outmost 
gate,  she  approached  a  bare,  desolate  field,  covered 
with  ruinous  huts.  The  field  looked  as  though  a 


PARTHENIA.  219 

rain  of  fire  and  brimstone  had  fallen  upon  it  and 
consumed  every  green  thing.  No  tree  spread  its 
refreshing  shade  over  the  ashes  of  its  soil,  no 
tendril  of  the  vine  curtained  its  blackened  roofs! 
Several  Christian  women  were  there,  and  Parthenia 
saw  the  lady  who  had  repulsed  her  at  the  steps  of 
the  altar  enter,  carrying  food  to  one  of  the  ruinous 
huts.  She  ordered  her  bearers  to  allow  her  to 
alight  from  the  litter. 

"  Madam,"  they  said,  "  no  one  enters  this  ac 
cursed  enclosure." 

"  Dearest  mistress  !  "  cried  Areta,  "  Jesus  and 
the  holy  angels  forbid  !  none  except  Christian 
women  enter  here." 

"  And  where  Christian  women  go,  may  not  a 
Greek,  an  Athenian,  enter?  Why  is  it  forbidden?" 

"  God  forbid  that  you  should  enter  that  gate !  It 
leads  to  the  accursed  field  where  lepers  are  ban 
ished  ;  none  enter  except  the  officers  to  bury  the 
dead,  and  Christian  women  who  come  to  comfort 
the  afflicted." 

"  If  women  come  here,  surely  I  may  enter," 
and  she  passed  through  the  gate  alone.  The  little 
maiden  lingered  at  the  gate,  but  the  other  fright 
ened  attendants  fled. 

Parthenia  had  heard  of  this  loathsome  Syrian 
disease,  but  she  had  never  witnessed  it.  As 
she  entered  the  nearest  hut,  the  same  lady  who 


220  P ASTHENIA. 

had  repulsed  her  at  the  altar  was  seated  by  the 
hard  couch,  supporting  the  crippled  victim  of  dis 
ease,  while  she  read  in  a  low,  tearful  voice  the 
precious  words  from  the  Scriptures,  — "  He  hath 
anointed  me  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  the  poor; 
he  hath  sent  me  to  heal  the  broken-hearted,  to 
preach  deliverance  to  the  captives  "  ;  and  then 
those  still  more  precious  words,  —  "  Come  unto 
me,  all  ye  who  labor,"  etc.  As  the  tenderness  of 
the  voice  and  of  the  words  fell  upon  the  tortured 
ear  of  the  sick,  repose  took  the  place  of  anguish 
upon  the  emaciated  features.  The  noble  Greek 
listened,  and  her  heart  was  also  soothed.  "  Am 
I  not  weary  with  thinking  ?  "  she  said ;  "  Am  not 
I  heavy  laden  with  doubt?"  and  that  tender  voice 
touched  her  inmost  soul,  and  her  tears  fell  un 
heeded. 

The  lady  rose  to  perform  the  same  office  of 
Christian  love  for  another,  still  more  loathsome 
than  the  last ;  and  as  their  eyes  met,  a  slight  blush 
colored  the  pale  cheek  of  the  Greek,  and  deepened 
to  crimson  when  she  found  that  it  was  indeed  the 
same  who  had  repulsed  her  in  the  church.  She 
could  not  reconcile  the  humility  of  the  one  action 
with  the  hauteur  of  the  other.  "  Permit  me  to 
ask,"  she  said,  "  is  this  a  cruel  penance  com 
manded  by  your  religion,  to  expiate  some  un- 
repented  sin  ?  " 


PABTHENIA.  221 

Monica,  the  person  addressed,  saw  by  her  dress 
that  she  was  a  stranger,  and  found  neither  levity 
nor  contempt  in  the  question.  "  Lady,"  she  said, 
"  how  can  one  who  loves  the  Saviour  do  otherwise  ? 
Has  he  not  said, '  Inasmuch  as  ye  do  this  unto  the 
least  of  my  disciples,  ye  do  it  unto  me '  ?  " 

"  And  are  Christians  in  such  close  personal  rela 
tions  with  their  God  ?  " 

"  He  whose  words  I  just  repeated,  whose  com 
mand  we  thus  obey,  is  not  our  God.  Although  we 
believe  him  the  first  of  created  beings,  he  is  not  the 
same  as  the  Supreme  God,  the  Father.  " 

"Ah!  I  cannot  comprehend  your  religion,"  said 
Parthenia  ;  "  another,  calling  himself  a  Christian, 
has  told  me  that  your  Christ  is  '  God  of  God, 
light  of  light,  very  God  of  very  God,  not  created 
but  always  existing,'  and  that  the  last  Emperor 
had  decreed  severest  penalties  against  all  who 
taught  a  different  doctrine 

"  Yes,  but  a  simple  woman  cannot  believe  what 
the  Council  of  Nice  has  ordered  us  to  receive  as  our 
faith,  and  thousands,  from  the  late  Empress  to  the 
humblest  of  her  subjects,  believe  that  the  Son,  our 
Saviour,  was  a  created  being,  and  dwelt  among  us, 
and  was  perfect  only  because  God  willed  that  he 
should  be  perfect." 

"  Ah !  this  brings  your  Saviour,  as  you  call  him, 

10  * 


222  PARTHENIA. 

nearer  to  your  confidence  and  love ;  as  our  Apollo 
is  nearer  to  us  as  the  humble  shepherd  of  Admetus 
than  as  the  glorious  God  of  Light." 

"Do  not  blaspheme,"  said  Monica,  turning  from 
her,  and  making  the  sign  of  the  cross. 

"  The  Gods  forgive  me  if  I  blaspheme  them,  in 
likening  the  immortal  God  of  the  Lyre  to  a  Jewish 
malefactor,"  said  Partlienia. 

"  Can  you,  then,  a  worshipper  of  beauty,  see  no 
beauty  in  that  eternal  self-sacrifice ;  thirsting  for 
love,  can  you  see  no  love  in  giving  himself  for  us  ?" 

"  I  am  not  a  Christian,"  said  Partlienia  ;  "  and 
when  I  see  Christians  shedding  each  other's  blood 
like  the  -bitterest  enemies,  I  pray,  Jupiter  preserve 
me  from  such  belief.  Then,  again,  when  I  see 
delicate  Christian  women  tending  the  most  loath 
some  subjects  of  disease,  leading  their  sons  and 
taking  their  sweet  infants  to  the  arms  of  that  be 
nign  Jesus  whose  statue  is  above  the  altar,  and 
whose  divine  countenance  sheds  upon  them  a  ben 
ediction,  my  thirsting  heart  longs  to  lay  itself  at  his 
feet—" 

"Return  with  me  to  my  house,"  interrupted 
Monica,  eager  to  convert  a  soul  ;  "  my  lectica 
stands  without,  and  is  sufficient  for  both." 

The  Athenian  consented,  and  both  ladies  ascend 
ed  one  litter,  and  were  borne  on  the  shoulders  of 
men  to  the  dwelling  of  the  matron. 


223 


CHAPTER     XXI. 

PHORION. 

MONICA'S  dwelling  was  one  of  the  richest  in  the 
city.  Left  early  a  widow,  her  husband,  a  distin 
guished  lawyer,  had  ordered  by  his  will  that  the 
paternal  home  should  remain  unaltered  till  their 
only  son  became  of  age  to  enter  upon  his  estate. 
He  had  been  a  man  of  refined  culture  and  artistic 
taste,  and  it  was  his  delight  to  fill  his  house  with 
exquisite  works  of  art,  and  to  surround  himself 
with  every  refinement  that  ingenuity  could  invent 
to  render  even  luxury  fastidious. 

No  Christian  himself,  he  had  yielded  indulgently 
to  his  wife's  conscientious  scruples,  and  consented 
that  she  should  renounce  all  the  gayeties  of  the 
world.  Her  life  was  consumed  in  labors  for  the 
Church,  —  in  pilgrimages  to  the  tombs  of  the  mar 
tyrs,  where  it  was  the  custom  of  Christians  to  place 
food  and  wine  for  the  destitute.  We  have  seen 
her  at  the  bedside  of  the  leper,  where  with  other 


224  PARTHENIA. 

Christian  women  she  performed  the  most  loathsome 
offices.  If  it  were  a  sincere,  though  mistaken 
piety,  it  was  certainly  a  wholly  superstitious  as 
ceticism  which  caused  the  women  of  that  age  to 
divest  themselves  of  all  the  charm  of  delicacy,  and 
to  consume  their  beauty  and  their  health  in  austere 
self-denial,  and  in  labors  too  heavy  for  their  strength 
to  endure. 

No  contrast  could  be  more  striking  than  that  of 
Monica's  humble  person  with  the  house  she  occu 
pied.  Gliding  softly  through  apartments  filled  with 
Grecian  statues  and  Byzantine  mosaics,  she  present 
ed  herself  only,  "  that  adorning  which  consisted  not 
in  wearing  gold  or  putting  on  of  apparel,  but  that 
which  was  hidden  in  the  heart,  even  the  ornament 
of  a  meek  and  quiet  spirit,"  etc. 

The  apartments  of  Monica  looked  out  upon  the 
Orontes  and  the  cultivated  opposite  shore,  where 
the  vine  and  the  fig,  the  myrtle  and  the  bay, 
flourished  almost  without  vicissitude  of  seasons, 
sheltered  by  the  overhanging  mountains.  Beneath 
the  windows  rose  the  perfume  of  every  Eastern 
flower,  perpetually  freshened  by  the  numerous 
fountains.  So  abundant  were  the  springs  in  this 
favored  region,  that  it  was  called  the  "  home  of  the 
waters." 

Parthenia  had  become  the  guest  of  Monica,  who 


PARTHENIA.  225 

had  striven  and  prayed  for  the  conversion  of  the 
beautiful  Athenian,  while   the   latter   sympathized 
deeply  in  her  hostess's  anxiety  touching  her  only 
son,  a  youth  of  about  twenty  years.     This  young 
man  had  been  seduced  into  the  errors  and  follies 
of  the  time.      His  Greek  education  sharpened  an 
already  penetrating  intellect ;   but  the  lectures  of 
the  Sophists  had  involved  him  in  errors  which  his 
mother  felt  that  only  the  Divine  Spirit  could  tear 
away.      He  was  therefore  the  constant  subject  of 
her  exhortations  and  prayers, — prayers  which  the 
bishops  said  must  finally  effect  his  conversion,  not 
to  Christianity,  — he  was  already  a  nominal  Chris 
tian,  —  but  from  errors  of  philosophy  and  conduct. 
Phorion,  in  accordance  with  the  fashion  of  the 
time,  had  an  establishment  separate  from  the  pa 
ternal  home,  and  Parthenia  had  been  some  days 
his  mother's  guest  before  she  saw  this  cherished 
son.     On  one  of  these  mornings,  at   entering  the 
apartment   of  his   mother,  she   was   greeted   by   a 
young  man  whose  exterior  instantly  won  for  him 
her  sympathy  and   admiration.      He  was  of  that 
slender   and   beautiful   symmetry  which  had  been 
the  model  for  the  sculptors  of  Athens,  while  his 
almost  faultless  features,  and  a  certain  sharpness  of 
outline,  showed  his  Grecian  descent.     The  studied 
care  of  his  dress  combined  what  was  convenient  in 


226  PARTHENIA. 

the  costume  of  the  Frank  with  the  lingering  fash 
ions  of  antiquity.  The  toga  had  long  ceased  to  be 
worn  by  the  young  exquisites  of  the  time,  but  the 
tunic  of  Phorion  was  of  the  richest  colors,  with 
jewelled  buckles,  and  a  collar  enriched  with  emer 
alds  like  those  which  adorned  the  clasps  of  the 
tunic. 

He  rose  to  greet  his  mother's  guest  with  a  silent 
but  genuine  indication  of  sympathy,  for  his  mother 
had  often  made  her  the  subject  of  conversation,  as 
he  had  so  lately  himself  passed  through  the  same 
experience  of  doubt  and  suffering  which  had  result 
ed  in  faith  in  the  Nazarene  as  a  divine  teacher ; 
but  his  mother  was  not  satisfied  with  this,  —  she 
wished  to  convert  him  to  the  stoicism  of  Chris 
tianity.  All  her  exhortations  were  now  directed 
to  induce  her  son  to  embrace  the  monastic  life. 
She  longed  to  sever  ties  which  she  considered 
sinful,  and  for  that  purpose  she  would  have  ban 
ished  him  to  one  of  the  monastic  solitudes,  too 
often  the  refuge,  at  this  period  of  the  Church,  of 
all  those  who  had  not  strength  to  meet  the  tempta 
tions  or  the  sorrows  of  the  world. 

In  the  manners  of  Phorion,  especially  towards 
women,  there  was  all  the  refined  courtesy  of  the 
man  of  the  world,  united  with  the  tender  sympathy 
of  human  brotherhood  which  marked  the  Chris 
tians  of  that  early  age  of  the  Church. 


PARTHENIA.  227 

As  was  mentioned  above,  Phorion's  home  was  not 
with  his  mother.  Not  many  days  had  passed  since 
the  first  interview  with  her  guest,  when,  with  light 
footsteps  and  joyous  expression,  he  sprang  into  her 
apartment  when  Parthenia  was  also  present. 

"  What  good  news  do  you  bring  me  ?  "  asked  his 
mother. 

"  Listen !  Do  you  not  hear  the  heralds,  with 
trumpets,  and  the  soldiers,  shouting  the  name  of 
Julian  ?  " 

"  I  hear  only  a  new  tumult,"  said  his  mother. 

"  Listen !  Julian,  my  fellow-student  in  Athens, 
my  friend,  has  arrived  at  Constantinople  after  the 
most  dangerous  march  that  ever  hero  achieved. 
Constantius,  who  went  out  with  deadly  hate  to 
meet  him,  —  thanks  to  the  immortal  Gods  !  they 
have  taken  him  to  themselves !  " 

Parthenia  turned  pale  as  death,  and  his  mother's 
face  flushed  deeply  to  hear  her  son  speak  thus  of 
the  heathen  Deities. 

"  Never  were  such  victories  or  such  a  march 
as  this  young  hero  has  achieved.  Cesar's  glories 
are  pale  to  his,  and  Hannibal's  mere  boy's  play. 
Think  of  it,  my  mother.  He  is  scarcely  older  than 
your  effeminate,  petted  son  !  " 

"  You  do  not  tell  us  what  he  has  accomplished," 
said  Parthenia  recovering  her  voice. 


228  PARTHENIA. 

"  All !  pardon  me,  I  forgot  all,  but  that  lie  select 
ed  the  bravest  of  his  troops,  and,  casting  behind 
them  every  hope  of  retreat,  he  plunged  at  their 
head  into  the  pathless  depths  of  the  Black  Forest, 
there  where  the  Danube  conceals  its  sources ;  fol 
lowing  their  infant  streams  through  deep  morasses, 
swimming  rivers,  scaling  mountains,  struggling 
again  through  pathless  forests,  so  that  for  many 
days  the  fate  of  this  intrepid  hero  was  unknown." 

Parthenia  started,  and  again  became  pale  as 
death. 

"But,"  continued  Phorion,  "he  surmounted  every 
obstacle ;  and  behold  him,  my  mother,  the  hero  ! 
Not  having  lost  a  single  follower,  he  emerged  upon 
the  broad-swelling  Danube,  there  where  he  pur 
posed  to  do,  near  Vienna.  A  fleet  of  light  brig- 
antines  was  lying  at  anchor ;  he  seized  some  food  to 
satisfy  his  ravenous  soldiers,  and  boldly  committed 
himself  to  the  waves.  Ah,  how  destiny  favored 
him !  The  blessed  winds,  sent  by  Gods  or  angels, 
carried  this  fleet  above  seven  hundred  miles  in 
eleven  days  !  Ah,  I  see  my  noble  friend  upon  the 
prow  of  his  vessel,  his  glorious  eye  flashing,  his 
noble  brow  thrown  upwards,  and  onwards  where 
glory  beckoned  him,  and  hope,  to  scatter  blessings 
upon  this  great  Empire !  0  noble  Parthenia  !  could 
you  have  seen  Julian  when  enthusiasm  for  some 


PAETHENIA.  229 

great  object  illumined  his  features,  you  would  have 
said  he  was  the  most  glorious  of  mortal  men." 

"  And  what  of  Constantius  ? "  she  asked,  her 
voice  trembling,  but  keeping  back  the  blinding 
tears. 

"  It  was  now  that  he  heard  of  the  rapid  progress 
of  the  Prince,  and,  disguising  his  anguish  under  the 
semblance  of  contempt,  he  prepared  to  meet  him 
and  let  the  fate  of  war  decide  which  should  be 
master  of  the  Empire.  But  the  Gods,  or  rather, 
dear  mother,  God's  providence,  interposed,  —  a  fe 
ver  destroyed  the  hope  of  Constantius,  and  Julian 
is  now  sole  Emperor  and  master  of  the  world." 

"Forbear,  my  son!  Your  joy  makes  you  im 
pious  !  " 

"  And  where,"  asked  Parthenia,  —  "  where  is  — 
where  is  your  friend  ?  How  was  the  Prince  re 
ceived  in  Constantinople  ?  and  did  Helena  —  did 
the  Empress  accompany  him  ?  " 

"  Ah,  that  was  the  most  glorious  of  all !  The 
whole  city  went  forth  to  meet  him,  and  at  the 
distance  of  sixty  miles  myriads  thronged  around 
him,  lifting  him  upon  their  shoulders,  with  shouts 
of  the  soldiers  and  the  people;  the  joyful  tears  of 
the  women ;  children  pressing  upon  him,  kissing 
his  hands  and  his  garments ;  flowers,  perfumes, 
garlands  and  crowns  of  roses,  were  showered  upon 

20 


230  PABTHENIA. 

him,  —  on  the  Emperor  alone.  The  Empress,  who 
was  left  to  follow  by  slow  stages,  was  arrested  on 
the  way  by  fatal  illness.  She  died,  —  and  Julian 
is  again  free ! "  Phorion  paused,  arrested  by  his 
sympathy  with  Julian,  and  the  rapid  changes  in  the 
countenance  of  Parthenia,  who  had  listened  breath 
lessly  ;  and  now  tears  rolled  silently  over  her  death- 
pale  cheeks.  "  But,"  continued  Phorion,  "  when 
the  senators  and  officers  of  the  city,  who  had  waited 
to  meet  him  at  the  gates,  saw  the  small,  simply 
arrayed  hero,  clad  only  in  the  scanty  cloak  of  the 
philosopher,  with  modest  expression,  unpretending 
carriage,  they  could  scarcely  believe  that  it  was  this 
simple  youth  who  had  subdued  the  Barbarians, 
reconquered  the  cities,  and  traversed,  overcoming 
every  obstacle,  the  whole  of  Europe,  from  the  waves 
of  the  Atlantic  to  those  of  the  Bosphorus ;  and  more 
than  all  this,  that  he  had  evinced  the  wisdom  of  the 
philosopher  and  the  experience  of  the  statesman, 
and  had  shown  clemency  and  moderation,  as  well 
as  wisdom." 

"  Ah !  "  said  Parthenia,  "  Julian  desires  more 
than  all  else  to  stand  high  in  the  admiration  of  the 
world.  The  Immortal  Gods  preserve  him  from  the 
fate  of  him  who  wished  to  guide  the  coursers  of  the 
sun." 

"  Amen  !  "  cried  Phorion ;  «  but  listen  !  " 


PABTHENIA.  231 

"  Hark ! "  said  Monica,  "  the  heralds  are  ap 
proaching." 

"With  music,  trumpets,  and  measured  steps,  the 
heralds  came  on,  preceded  by  a  guard  of  soldiers, 
escorting  the  heathen  high-priest  in  his  robes,  and 
a  procession  of  the  priests  of  the  various  Divinities. 
By  accident  or  design  they  paused  before  the  house 
of  Monica.  The  trumpet  sounded  three  times,  and 
the  herald  proclaimed  aloud :  - — 

"  By  decree  of  the  Emperor,  Julian.  The  wor 
ship  of  the  ancient  Divinities  is  commanded.  —  The 
temples  of  the  Gods  to  be  immediately  reopened, 
and  restored.  —  Perpetual  incense  upon  the  altars, 
and  daily  sacrifice,  enjoined.  -»-  Every  violation  of 
this  decree  •will  be  punished  as  sacrilege. " 

The  herald  passed  on.  It  was  as  though  a 
thunderbolt  had  fallen  in  the  midst  of  the  little 
circle.  Monica  threw  herself  upon  her  knees,  and 
began  praying  aloud.  Phorion  became  thoughtful 
and  silent.  The  decree  could  not,  he  thought, 
affect  him.  He  was  striving  for  truth  in  his  own 
soul,  and  cared  not  much  for  outward  professions 
of  any  kind. 

Parthenia  bent  her  head,  and  seemed  to  be  pray 
ing  silently.  She  was  yet  perplexed  and  groping  in 
darkness.  She  remembered  Julian's  enthusiasm 
and  eloquence  whenever  he  mentioned  the  ancient 


232  PARTHENIA. 

Divinities,  and  she  could  not  for  an  instant  doubt 
his  entire  sincerity  in  proclaiming  their  worship. 

"  The  Emperor  believes,"  she  said,  "  that  he  is 
under  the  immediate  care  of  the  Immortals,  and 
that  they  have  made  him  the  ruler  of  this  great 
Empire,  in  order  to  restore  their  worship  in  all  its 
purity.  And  who  can  assure  us  that  it  is  not  so  ?  " 
she  added,  with  a  sigh. 

"  Still,"  said  Phorion,  "  though  he  consults  the 
auguries  and  professes  to  believe  them,  he  never 
is  influenced  by  them  ;  he  never  turns  from  that 
which  his  own  wisdom  or  his  passions  urge  him  to 
follow,  whatever  the  victims'  entrails  may  predict. 
Julian,"  he  continued,  "  will  never  become  a  per 
secutor  ;  he  believes  in  argument,  not  in  violence  ; 
in  reason,  more  than  in  power." 

"  His  humane  heart  will  never  permit  him  to 
become  a  persecutor,"  said  Partlienia. 

"  Cease,  my  children,"  cried  Monica,  who  had 
now  risen  from  her  knees, — "cease,  my  son,  to 
glorify  the  Apostate.  Be  not  so  impious  as  to  ex 
cuse  the  enemy  of  our  religion.  He  has  turned  his 
back  upon  the  influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and 
he  will  now  be  guilty  of  every  wickedness." 

"  Madam,"  said  Parthenia,  "  you  are  unjust  to 
your  son,  and  to  the  Emperor.  Truth  is  as  pre 
cious  to  him  as  to  any  follower  of  the  Nazarene. 


PARTHENIA.  233 

Ho  believes  that  every  form  of  religion  is  but  a 
separate  ray  of  that  great  central  light,  the  Su 
preme  God,  the  creator  and  origin  of  all  worlds." 

"  I  admire  and  venerate  Julian,"  said  Phorion. 
"  The  defect  of  his  mind  is,  that  feeling  and  im 
agination  overweigh.  clearness  of  thought.  He  is 
wedded  to  the  past,  and  incapable  of  appreciating 
the  new  ideas  which  have  been  poured  into  hu 
manity  by  the  coining  of  Christ,  the  promised  one. 
He  would  revive  the  beauty  of  the  ancient  myths, 
but—" 

"  Do  not  you  admire  their  beauty  ?  "  asked  Par- 
thenia. 

"  Ah  yes  !  but  not  as  I  do  the  sublime  and  touch 
ing  history  of  Jesus.  Study  the  manuscripts  in 
your  hands,  and  your  woman's  heart  cannot  fail 
to  feel  their  truth." 

At  this  moment  their  attention  was  arrested  by  a 
company  of  monks  from  the  Euphrates,  passing 
beneath  the  window,  —  a  sight  never  yet  witnessed 
in  Athens.  Partlicnia  could  not  help  expressing 
something  like  disgust  at  their  bare  feet  and  ragged 
beards,  and  her  Athenian  eye  was  offended  at  the 
absence  of  all  grace  or  beauty  in  their  costume. 

"  That  is  the  creature,"  whispered  Phorion, "  that 
my  mother  wishes  me  to  become." 

Parthenia  looked  from  one  to  the  other,  with  the 
20* 


234  PARTHENIA. 

utmost  surprise ;  and  Monica,  who  had  heard  what 
he  said,  answered,  "  Because,  my  son,  it  is  only 
by  taking  upon  yourself  holy  vows  that  you  can 
break  those  sinful  ties  that  now  consume  your 
life." 

"  0  my  mother !  do  not  call  the  pure  passion 
which  binds  me  to  one  innocent  being  sinful. 
Beside,  how  could  I  take  one  vow  to  sever  another 
which  I  regard  as  more  sacred  ?  " 

u  While  you  are  enthralled  by  an  earthly  love, 
you  cannot  serve  God  with  singleness  of  heart  and 
pure  devotion.  Pluck  out  the  right  eye,  cut  off  the 
right  hand,  is  the  command  of  our  Lord." 

"  But,"  said  Parthenia,  "  I  thought  it  was  the 
boast  of  your  religion  that  it  made  woman  the  equal 
companion  of  man,  and  bound  them  together  in  the 
blessed  union  of  one  with  one,  —  the  fusion  of  two 
hearts  into  one,"  —  and  her  cheek  glowed  with 
the  thought. 

"  Such  was  the  meaning  of  the  instructions  of  our 
Master,"  said  Phorion ;  "  but  cold-hearted  priests 
and  ambitious  prelates,  who  wish  to  create  for  the 
service  of  their  ambition  a  militia  of  monks,  have 
perverted  his  divine  commands,  and  for  their  own 
sinful  purposes  celibacy  and  asceticism  — ' 

"My  son,  do  not  blaspheme,"  interrupted  Monica. 

"  Oh,"   said  Parthenia,   "  I  have  dreamed   of  a 


PARTHENIA.  235 

lovelier  destiny  for  man  and  woman,  —  a  home, 
where  wedded  hearts  might  daily  find  new  fe 
licity  in  their  own  peace,  and  in  obeying  the 
almost  divine  precepts  of  your  Nazarene." 

"  Such  is  always  a  woman's  heaven,"  said  Monica. 
"  Cannot  you  raise  your  imagination  above  that  sen 
sual  heaven  of  mutual  love  and  wedded  hearts  ?  " 

Parthenia  crimsoned,  but  she  went  on  to  say:  "I 
have  been  almost  won  to  believe  in  the  divine  origin 
of  your  Christian  religion,  when  I  found  it  admitted 
woman  to  equal  privileges  with  man,  —  gave  her  a 
soul,  and  made  her  the  partner  of  man's  serious 
occupations,  rather  than  the  slave  of  his  passions." 

"The  religion  of  the  Nazarene  demands  sacrifices, 
expiation,  repentance ;  and  they  can  only  take  place 
in  solitude  and  retirement,"  said  Monica. 

"  I  do  not  find,"  said  Parthenia,  "  in  those  lovely 
precepts  of  your  Gospels  any  scorn  of  the  world  or 
contempt  of  woman.  On  the  contrary,  I  find  the 
most  loving  spirit  of  condescension,  even  to  the 
wicked." 

"  Sacrifice  and  self-devotion,"  continued  Monica, 
"  are  the  two  angels  upon  whose  wings  we  must 
ascend  to  heaven." 

"  Pardon  me,"  said  Parthenia,  "  but  our  heathen 
religion  is  marked  by  sacrifice.  The  legends  are 
full  of  it ;  but  that  of  the  innocent  virgin  Iphigenia 
stands  alone  in  its  loveliness." 


236  PARTHENIA. 

"  Iphigenia  is  nerved  for  sacrifice  by  the  presence 
of  Achilles,  in  whose  memory  she  wishes  to  live  as  a 
perfect,  unflawed  diamond,"  said  Phorion. 

"  Ah,  you  look  upon  that  single,  pure-souled 
deed  like  a  man,  and  think  it  inspired  by  the  wish 
to  live  in  the  memory  of  a  lover." 

"Does  not  Euripides  give  it  that  interpretation?" 

"  Euripides  was  a  man,  but  I  think  he  assigns 
higher  motives  to  the  heroic  maiden  ;  she  loves  her 
country  with  enthusiasm,  and  is  glad  to  sacrifice 
herself  for  it.  She  would  die  for  her  country,  but 
she  expresses  a  truly  Grecian  idea  when  she  says : 
'  It  is  right  that  she  should  die,  rather  than  Achilles 
expose  himself  to  danger,  for  one  man  is  of  more 
worth  than  a  thousand  women.' ': 

"  How  can  your  woman's  heart  fail  to  feel  the 
difference  when  this  pure  victim's  blood  flows  at 
the  altar  of  a  female  Deity  who  is  pleased,  the  poet 
says, 4  when  the  blood  of  human  victim  flows,'  and 
that  of  our  Christ,  who  places  woman  on  the  same 
level  with  man,  and  says  also  that  he  will  have 
mercy  and  not  sacrifice,  or  only  the  moral  sacrifice 
of  a  pure  heart  ?  " 

"  We  cannot  reason,"  said  Parthenia,  "  about  the 
beautiful  myths  of  our  ancient  history.  Many  of 
them  to  my  Greek  mind  are  touching,  including  the 
beauty  which  is  an  element  almost  entirely  left  out 
of  the  history  of  your  Christ." 


PARTHENIA.  237 

"  All,  does  it  seem  so  to  you  ?  "  said  Phorion. 
"  Where  there  is  love,  there  is  beauty.  Love,  is 
the  key  that  unlocks  the  treasury  of  the  beautiful." 
(Parthcnia  started.  It  was  the  idea,  'almost  in 
the  words,  she  had  once  used  when  Julian  left  her 
alone.)  "  And  it  seems  to  me  that  our  Christian 
idea  of  sacrifice,"  and  a  tender  and  beautiful  ex 
pression  enlightened  his  thin  features  as  he  repeat 
ed,  "  our  Christian  idea  of  sacrifice  includes  the 
idea  of  loving,  although  not  blind  to  the  depths  of 
evil  of  those  for  whom  we  die.  It  must  be  a  bound 
less  love,  like  that  of  Jesus  for  sinners." 

"  How  strangely  changed  are  all  our  ideas  of 
sacrifice!"  said  Parthenia.  ".In  early  times  we 
offered  iipon  all  our  altars  fruits,  flowers,  and  the 
lovely  green  things  of  earth ;  now,  blood  must  flow. 
Even  upon  our  most  tender  domestic  altars,  — 
to  Vesta,  the  protectress  of  the  hearth,  to  Venus, 
the  guardian  of  the  heart,  —  we  must  sprinkle  the 
blood  of  lambs  or  doves." 

"  Speak  not  such  blasphemous  words ! "  cried 
Monica.  "  God  alone  is  the  guardian  of  the  hearth 
and  the  home." 

"  Pardon  me,  dear  Monica,  I  have  as  yet  known 
only  the  dead  letter  of  your  religion.  I  feel  and 
know  that  there  is  one  only  Supreme  Divinity,  but 
I  find  it  hard  to  believe  in  your  Christ." 


238  PARTHENIA. 

"  It  is  the  pride  of  your  intellect  which  prevents 
you  from  embracing  the  lowly  —  " 

"  No,  my  mother,"  interrupted  Phorion  ;  "  the 
blessed  light  is  dawning  in  the  mind  of  the  noble 
Parthenia.  She  waits  only  a  little  stronger  illu 
mination";  and,  turning  to  the  beautiful  woman, 
he  said,  "  I  feel,  I  am  sure,  that  you  are  not  far 
from  entire  faith  in  Christ.  Study  the  Gospels, 
now  that  you  are  free  from  the  gorgeous  pageantry 
and  the  seductive  beauty  of  the  heathen  worship, 
and  with  a  mind  so  candid,  and  a  heart  thirsting 
for  truth,  you  cannot  fail  to  attain  it." 

Parthenia  saw  his  pale  face  glowing  with  the 
ardor  and  deep  conviction  with  which  he  spoke, 
and*  she  felt  that  there  was  an  immeasurable  re 
ality  of  earnest  faith  never  inspired  by  Heathenism. 
Tears,  sweeter  than  any  she  had  shed,  rolled  silent 
ly  over  her  face,  and  she  rose  and  would  have  left 
the  room,  for  she  felt  the  need  of  solitude  ;  but  as 
the  slave  raised  the  heavy  curtain  of  the  atrium 
to  let  her  pass,  a  young  woman  of  singular  beauty 
fell,  as  she  was  rushing  into  the  room,  almost  upon 
her. 

Parthenia  stood  aside  to  let  her  pass,  and  she 
could  not  but  pause  to  look  at  the  young  crea 
ture,  who,  in  a  state  of  extreme  agitation,  fell  at 
the  knees  of  the  matron,  and  burst  into  violent 
weeping. 


PARTHENIA.  239 

Phorion  became  crimson,  and  while  he  trembled 
with  agitation,  he  hastened  to  raise  the  young 
woman  from  his  mother's  knees,  and  to  deprecate 
by  the  tenderness  with  which  he  treated  her  the 
stern  and  angry  frown  that  gathered  upon  his 
mother's  face. 

"  No,"  she  cried,  resisting  his  caress,  "  I  will 
not  rise  till  I  am  heard, — till  your  mother  promises 
that  she  will  not  try  to  turn  your  heart  from  me, — 
that  she  will  not  tear  you  from  me, — that  she  will 
not  divide  us." 

She  spoke  with  such  rapidity  and  so  interrupted 
by  sobs,  that,  although  Phorion  took  her  in  his 
arms,  and  said  tenderly,  "  Olympia,  my  mother 
cannot  divide  us,"  it  was  some  moments  before 
she  could  be  soothed  and  induced  to  leave  the  pres 
ence  of  Monica. 

To  account  for  the  sudden  appearance  of  this 
young  woman  we  must  go  back  a  little.  Phorion, 
as  was  the  custom  of  the  young  men  of  his  time, 
and  before  he  became  a  convert  to  the  Christian 
faith,  was  connected  with  this  beautiful  young  crea 
ture  through  a  sincere  attachment  of  the  heart. 
Unlike  other  young  men,  he  had  been  constantly 
faithful  to  her;  and  although  they  had  two  chil 
dren,  their  union  had  not  received  the  sanction  of 
the  Church,  nor  was  he  bound  to  her  by  civil  laws. 


240  PARTHENIA. 

This  was  partly  the  fault  of  his  mother,  who  con 
stantly  pleaded  pecuniary  difficulties,  hoping  to 
break  off  the  connection.  Monica's  religion  was 
tenderly  expressed  towards  the  suffering,  but  it 
made  her  sternly  unrelenting  towards  those  weak 
nesses  of  the  heart,  which  she  regarded  as  sins. 

A  marriage  with  Olympia  would  not,  in  her  view, 
have  redeemed  their  connection  from  sin,  and  all 
her  efforts  tended^  to  induce  her  son  to  join  one 
of  the  monastic  orders,  and  thus  for  ever  to  sever 
their  union. 

Phorioii  had  never  dared  to  present  her  to  his 
mother.  Neither  Olympia  nor  her  children  had 
ever  before  crossed  the  threshold  of  Monica.  But 
now  the  agonizing  fear  of  the  former  lest  his 
mother  should  succeed  in  separating  her  son  from 
her,  had  been  terribly  augmented  by  learning  that 
a  beautiful  Greek  was  dwelling  under  the  same 
roof.  A  jealous  fear  was  added  to  her  other  ter 
rors,  and  she  could  no  longer  resist  the  step  she 
had  taken. 

We  shall  see  in  the  sequel  whether  the  heart  of 
Monica  was  softened  towards  her. 


241 


CHAPTER   XXII. 
JULIAN  AS  EMPEROR. 

IMMEDIATELY  upon  the  entrance  of  Julian  into 
his  palace  at  Constantinople,  he  could  not  fail  to 
make  bitter  enemies.  He  found  it  filled  with  hun 
gry  mouths  and  idle  hands.  Idlers,  flatterers,  imbe 
ciles,  filled  every  apartment,  crowded  every  avenue. 
He  who  dined  upon  a  single  vegetable  found  a  thou 
sand —  literally  a  thousand  —  cooks  in  his  kitchen. 
A  water-drinker,  he  found  nearly  a  thousand  cup 
bearers  in.  his  service.  Eunuchs,  for  whom  Julian 
felt  an  especial  aversion,  like  venomous  toads, 
lurked  in  every  corner  and  thronged  every  avenue. 
How  could  it  be  otherwise,  when  a  small  sum  of 
money  only  was  necessary  to  purchase  an  office  in 
the  Emperor's  household,  and  his  palace  became 
the  asylum  of  the  imbecile,  the  shelter  of  cowards. 
The  revenues  of  the  Prince  and  the  taxes  of  the 
people  were  exhausted  to  support  an  army  of  do 
mestics,  which  cost  more,  as  Julian  found,  than  an 
army  of  soldiers. 
21 


242  PARTHENIA. 

The  first  morning  that  the  Emperor  awoke  in  the 
palace  he  found  his  apartment  lined  with  mirrors, 
and  his  long  beard  reflected  in  a  hundred  different 
angles  of  perspective.  His  first  order  was  to  sum 
mon  a  barber  to  execute  the  necessary  curtailment 
upon  his  chin.  Soon  he  heard  the  hoofs  of  a  troop 
of  horse  and  the  noise  of  a  procession  of  wheels, 
which  drew  his  attention  to  the  window. 

A  superb  carriage,  drawn  by  six  beautiful  Thes- 
salian  horses,  followed  by  carriages  of  different 
forms,  each  bearing  a  person  of  distinction,  entered 
the  court. 

"  What  is  the  meaning  of  this  embassy  ? "  he 
asked  the  page  in  waiting. 

"  Your  Majesty  has  ordered  the  chief  barber,  and 
his  assistants  follow  him,"  said  the  boy. 

The  Emperor  burst  into  a  loud  laugh,  checked 
by  the  opening  of  the  folding-doors. 

There  entered  a  man  magnificently  dressed.  His 
tunic  was  embroidered  with  gold,  and  his  mantle, 
sown  with  pearls,  was  bordered  by  a  deep  fringe  of 
gold.  He  was  followed  by  numerous  assistants, 
each  bearing  some  implement  of  his  office ;  to  one 
was  intrusted  a  golden  bowl ;  another  bore  the 
razor,  whose  handle  was  incrusted  with  diamonds. 

Julian,  who  sat  in  his  simple  tunic,  could  scarcely 
preserve  the  befitting  gravity,  when  the  magnificent 
chief  barber  bowed  low  before  him. 


PARTHENIA.  243 

"  There  is  surely  some  mistake,"  said  Julian,  ris 
ing  ;  "  I  did  not  summon  a  Councillor  of  the  Em 
pire,  but  simply  a  barber,  to  conform  my  beard  to 
the  fashion  of  the  court.  "Will  it  please  your  Ex 
cellency  to  sit  ? " 

"  The  mistake  is  your  Majesty's,"  said  the  other. 
"  I  have  the  honor  to  fill  the  office  of  chief  barber. 
I  shall  be  most  proud  to  exercise  my  skill  upon  the 
lip  of  your  Majesty.  Nothing  but  the  moustache  of 
the  Emperor  passes  under  my  razor ;  the  rest  of  the 
sacred  beard  is  left  to  my  assistants." 

"  And  what,  may  I  be  permitted  to  ask,  are  the 
appointments  of  your  office  ?  " 

"  Your  Majesty  will  hardly  think  them  above 
mediocrity.  I  have  rations  for  twenty  persons, 
food  for  twenty  horses,  and  a  pension  commensu 
rate  with  these  appointments.  Besides,  I  received 
many  gratifications  from  your  indulgent  predeces 
sor,  which  1  hope  will  be  doubled  by  the  immortal 
person  that  I  have  the  honor  to  serve." 

A  smile  of  derision  curled  the  delicate  lips  of 
Julian.  "  And  your  nine  hundred  and  ninety-nine 
assistants,"  he  asked,  "  do  they  also  live  at  the  ex 
pense  of  the  Emperor  ?  " 

"  They  form  but  a  very  small  part  of  those  requi 
site  for  the  magnificent  service  of  the  Emperor," 
said  the  barber,  beginning  to  tremble  at  the  deri 
sive  tone  of  Julian. 


244  PARTHENIA. 

"  For  me  they  are  quite  superfluous.  A  man 
who  cannot  shave  his  own  beard  does  not  deserve 
to  have  one.  One  pensioner  of  your  profession  will 
suffice  for  my  frugal  household.  I  am  determined 
to  feed  no  idlers ;  therefore  dismiss  your  train,  if 
you  would  remain  yourself  in  my  service." 

The  chief  barber  raised  his  eyebrows,  but  dared 
not  proffer  a  word.  He_jbund  that  he  had  to  do 
with  a  very  different  person  from  the  effeminate 
Constantius. 

Julian  now  summoned  to  his  presence  the  comp 
troller  of  the  finances,  and  without  ceremony  swept 
from  the  civil  list  all  except  the  most  indispensable 
officers  of  his  household.  "  I  shall  never  probably 
enter  again  the  troubled  state  of  matrimony ;  I  have 
therefore  no  need  of  eunuchs ;  let  the  whole  brood 
be  dismissed."  Like  a  herd  of  noxious  animals, 
for  Julian  had  reason  to  hate  them,  they  were 
chased  from,  the  palace. 

"  A  man  who  eats  but  from  necessity,  and  that 
standing  or  walking,  has  110  need  of  a  gorgeous 
table  with  menials  around  it;  let  all  such  depart," 
he  said.  "  Ketain  only  servants  necessary  to  keep 
my  palace  in  perfect  repair  and  order.  I  am  neither 
hunter  nor  racer;  I  love  neither  the  stadium  nor 
the  amphitheatre.  I  therefore  need  only  the  usual 
guard  of  princes." 


PAETHENIA.  245 

These  proceedings  of  Julian  gave  occasion  to  the 
most  opposite  judgments.  The  larger  portion  of 
his  contemporaries  condemned  him  wholly,  or  found 
that  he  was  far  too  philosophic  for  a  prince.  They 
said  that,  so  far  from  attaining  the  just  medium  be 
tween  simplicity  and  ostentation,  he  outraged  the 
former,  as  his  predecessor  had  outraged  the  utmost 
magnificence.  They  averred  that  he  rendered  the 
imperial  government  contemptible,  by  despoiling  it 
of  the  exterior  which  would  dazzle  the  eyes  of  the 
people,  and  that  a  modesty  so  extremely  displaced 
was  only  a  refinement  of  pride,  and  worse  than  any 
ostentation  of  luxury. 

A  few  only  of  Julian's  admirers  declared,  that  a 
Prince  who  knew  so  well  how  to  govern,  who  had 
shown  such  brilliant  Its  well  as  such  solid  and  use 
ful  talents,  could  well  dispense  with  the  eclat  bor 
rowed  from  ostentation ;  they  said  also,  that  he 
could  display  his  personal  elevation  by  treading 
under  foot  all  factitious  grandeur;  and  that  his 
subjects  should  be  the  last  to  blame  him  for  dispens 
ing  with  an  ostentatious  luxury,  which  was  pro 
cured  at  their  own  expense. 

Regarding  him  from  one  point  of  view,  it  seems 

that  Julian  had  studied  books  in  his  closet  more 

than  he  had  studied  man  in  daily  life.     A  certain 

degree  of  splendor  short  of  ostentation  is  requisite 

21* 


246  PARTHENIA. 

to  strike  the  imagination  and  keep  up  the  prestige 
of  royalty.  In  the  eyes  of  the  people,  a  prince  with 
a  plain  doublet  cannot  be  pointed  at  as  an  object  of 
as  much  admiration  as  one  clothed  in  all  the  splen 
dor  of  royal  robes  and  jewels.  The  tangled  beard 
and  inky  fingers  of  Julian  lost  him  more  admirers 
than  his  stern  sense  of  justice  gained  for  him 
friends. 

Urged  on  by  his  intrepid  and  earnest  spirit  in 
laboring  for  the  public  good,  Julian  was  not  sorry 
also  to  make  his  enemies  feel  his  power.  He 
created  a  chamber  of  justice  for  the  trial  of  those 
who  had  abused  their  influence  under  the  former 
reign.  To  escape  the  reproach  of  condemning  his 
personal  enemies,  the  tribunal  was  held  at  Calce- 
donia,  and  he  gave  the  judges  the  power  to  ex 
ecute  their  sentences,  without  appeal  and  without 
delay. 

This  tribunal  did  little  honor  to  the  judgment  or 
discernment  of  Julian  when  it  selected  Ursulus  as 
a  victim  of  its  resentment.  This  venerable  man, 
who  had  been  Grand  Treasurer  under  Constantius, 
had  become  odious  to  the  army,  because  he  had 
spoken  of  their  cowardice  with  the  indignation  it 
merited.  But  beside  the  nobleness  and  excellence 
of  his  character,  which  should  have  been  his  pro 
tection  in  the  eyes  of  Julian,  the  Prince  was 


PABTHENIA.  247 

under  peculiar  obligations  to  him.  When  sent 
into  Gaul  without  money,  and  almost  without 
soldiers,  on  purpose  that  he  might  fail,  the  Treas 
urer  of  the  Province  received  private  instructions 
from  the  Grand  Treasurer  Ursulus  to  furnish  the 
sums  necessary  for  the  army,  and  for  the  support 
of  the  Prince's  frugal  court. 

Ursulus  now  lived  surrounded  hy  his  dependents, 
to  whom  he  was  a  beneficent  providence,  and  blessed 
with  an  only  daughter,  beautiful  and  accomplished, 
who  had  secretly  become  a  Christian,  and  lived  to 
practise  the  lovely  precepts  of  Christianity.  He 
was  seized  by  some  creatures  of  the  army,  hurried 
before  the  tribunal,  and  condemned  to  death.  His 
daughter  hastened  to  the  presence  of  the  Emperor, 
and  threw  herself  at  his  feet,  passionately  pleading 
for  the  life  of  her  father. 

Julian  raised  her,  and  promised  all  she  asked; 
but,  alas  !  it  was  too  late.  She  received  in  her 
arms  only  the  lifeless  body  of  him  who  had  filled 
her  young  life  with  happiness.  Julian  restored  to 
the  daughter  the  confiscated  estates  of  her  father, 
and  bitterly  wept  his  too  late  interposition  to  save 
the  life  of  his  venerable  friend. 

The  fate  of  Ursulus  and  of  a  few  others  has 
drawn  upon  the  Emperor  the  malediction  of  parti 
sans,  as  well  as  the  stain  of  ingratitude ;  and  it  is 


248  PAETHENIA. 

not  a  sufficient  excuse  that  lie  was  ignorant  of  the 
condemnation  of  Ursulus,  for  a  good  prince  should 
be  ignorant  of  nothing  touching  the  welfare  of  his 
subjects. 

Julian,  like  Napoleon  and  others,  was  fond  of 
believing  himself  destined  to  some  great  work. 
Napoleon  also  believed  himself  the  man  of  destiny  ; 
but  in  the  "  Pattern  Democrat"  there  was  nothing 
in  common  with  Julian,  the  "  favorite  of  the  Gods." 
Julian  was  an  ideologist,  Napoleon  was  the  apostle 
of  common  sense.  Julian  believed  himself,  and  a 
few  of  the  aristocrats  of  nature,  perfect ;  Napoleon 
said,  "  The  worst  disease  that  can  afflict  the  human 
mind  is  the  desire  for  perfection."  Julian  believed 
in  necromancy  and  mystery,  the  occult  sciences,  as 
means  for  accomplishing  his  purposes ;  Napoleon 
believed  in  brass  and  iron,  in  cannon-balls  and 
money  Julian  was  a  lover  of  the  romantic,  and 
was  for  bringing  back  the  old  forms  of  beauty  from 
which  life  had  fled.  Napoleon  lived  only  in  the 
present,  and  believed  in  his  own  iron  hand. 

Julian's  appointed  work  was  the  restoration  of 
the  old  religion.  To  this  he  subordinated  every 
other  object.  But  though  he  believed  in  this  des 
tiny  for  himself,  he  had  too  much  intelligence  not 
to  feel  how  extremely  delicate  and  difficult  was 
his  mission.  The  Christian  Church,  during  the 


PARTHENIA.  249 

three   hundred  years  of  its  existence,  had  main 
tained  itself  against  penal  laws  and  bloody  perse 
cutions,  from  all  of  which  it  had  come  out  with 
new  strength  and  fruitfulness.      But   to   a  mind 
indisposed    to    receive    Christianity,    the    Church 
could  at  no  time  appear  in  a  less  attractive  light 
than  in   the   time  of  Julian.      It  was  in  a  state 
of   implacable   discord.      The   chief   cities   of  the 
Empire  had  flowed  with  blood   shed  in  religious 
quarrels.     The  great  truths  revealed  by  Christ  had 
no  longer  the  charm  of  novelty.     The  Church  itself 
had  passed  through  the  earlier  period  of  its  noble 
moral  enthusiasm.      At  this  moment  Christianity 
and  Paganism  stood  opposed  to,  each  other,  each 
owing   a  portion   of  its   present  condition   to  the 
other,   and  balancing  their  respective   forces,  the 
great  issue  being  which  should  advance  and  which 
decline.     Christianity  had  not  disdained  to  adopt 
some  of  the  external  graces  and  unessential  cere 
monies  of  the  Pagan  worship,  and  the  old  religion 
had  received  a  strong  infusion  of  the  elements  of 
the  new.     The  three  Graces,  incense,  flowers,  and 
music,  having  been  the   handmaids  of  Paganism, 
lent  their  service  to  the  Christian  altar;  and  Pa 
ganism  endeavored  to  adopt  the  charities  of  broth 
erly  love  and  external  purity  from  Christianity. 
Julian  had  not  the  power  to  perceive  the  essential 


250  PABTHENIA. 

difference  between  the  two  religions;  that  Pagan 
ism  had  no  root  in  itself ;  it  contained  the  seeds  of 
death,  while  Christianity  possessed  the  power  of  re 
creating  and  purifying  itself.  Its  streams,  however 
stained  and  colored  by  the  channels  through  which 
they  passed,  ran  clear  again  through  the  infinite 
purity  of  the  fountain. 

The  Emperor  had  no  sooner  arrived  in  Constan 
tinople,  than  he  ordered,  by  a  general  edict,  all  the 
heathen  temples  to  be  opened,  and  those  that  had 
fallen  into  decay  to  be  repaired.  The  cross,  not 
then  the  emblem  of  sorrow  and  humiliation,  but 
of  the  triumph  of  Constantino  over  Heathenism, 
was  everywhere  conspicuous.  It  floated  upon  the 
air  in  banners,  it  surmounted  the  cupolas  of  the 
churches ;  it  was  carved  upon  the  fronts  of  houses, 
and  placed  as  an  emblem  upon  public  buildings; 
it  was  worn  upon  the  breast  as  an  ornament,  and 
upon  the  hand  as  a  seal ;  perhaps  there  never  was 
a  time  when  the  cross  was  so  wholly  an  emblem  of 
triumph  and  of  power.  But  now,  by  the  order  of 
the  Emperor,  the  cross  was  everywhere  effaced,  and 
the  gold  and  ivory  of  the  heathen  Gods  gleamed  in 
every  square  and  in  every  street.  The  statue  of 
Christ,  calm  and  serene,  blessing  the  gathered  mul 
titudes  of  the  poor  and  humble,  had  stood  in  the 
centre  of  the  city,  upon  a  golden  pedestal ;  this  had 


PARTHENIA.  251 

'disappeared,  and  was  replaced  by  the  winged  God, 
Apollo,  gazing  at  the  sun. 

Where  were  the  Christians  who  had  yesterday 
filled  the  streets,  hastening  to  the  churches  amid 
the  pealing  of  bells  and  the  chanting  of  anthems  ? 
They  were  silent,  filled  with  consternation,  for  as 
yet  they  knew  not  the  temper  of  the  Emperor. 
Instead  of  these,  processions  of  Pagan  priests  and 
priestesses,  in  their  white  robes  and  myrtle  crowns, 
thronged  the  streets.  Everywhere  the  blood  of  s 
rifices  was  flowing,  and  the  mingled  smoke  of  in 
cense  and  the  odor  of  the  burnt-offering  infecting 
the  pure  air  of  the  Bosphorus.  Julian  himself  as 
sumed  the  office  and  the  robes  of  Grand  Pontiff, 
and  dedicated  in  his  palace  a  temple  and  altar  to 
the  sun ;  or  rather  his  palace  itself  became  one  vast 
temple  to  the  heathen  Deities.  In  his  garden  every 
God  had  his  statue  and  his  altar,  where  the  Em 
peror  morning  and  evening  offered  his  prayers.  In 
the  morning,  to  welcome  the  return  of  the  sun,  he 
slew  his  victim ;  in  the  evening  he  bade  the  sun 
adieu  with  a  second  sacrifice.  The  same  homage 
was  rendered  to  the  moon  and  stars ;  his  night  in 
deed  was  almost  wholly  spent  in  prayer.  The  peo 
ple  saw  him  prostrate  before  the  idols,  kissing  their 
feet;  going  and  coming  in  their  service  with  an 
anxious  mien,  bringing  wood  for  the  altar,  kindling 


252  PARTHENIA. 

the  fires,  inspecting  the  entrails;  thus  giving  to 
the  people  an  example  of  piety  surpassing  the  zeal 
of  the  Christian  Emperors. 

After  Julian  had  heen  a  week  in  Constantinople, 
he  summoned  around  him  his  best  beloved  friends. 
In  the  foremost  for  true  attachment  were  Libanius 
and  Maximus,  the  sophist  and  the  necromancer  who 
had  predicted  for  him  the  possession  of  the  Empire. 
So  great  was  the  fame  of  the  latter,  that  in  his 
journey  from  Sardis  to  Constantinople  the  whole 
population  of  Asia  put  itself  in  motion  to  attend 
him.  Magistrates  and  persons  of  distinction  has 
tened  to  render  him  homage.  The  streets  and  pub 
lic  squares  were  so  crowded,  that  his  chariot  could 
hardly  pierce  through  the  throng.  Applause,  in 
cense,  and  flowers  were  heaped  upon  him,  and 
while  the  philosopher,  affecting  humility,  wrapped 
in  his  philosophic  cloak,  buried  himself  in  the  depths 
of  his  coach,  his  wife  received  the  adulation  and 
answered  the  orations  and  the  felicitations  of  the 
populace. 

As  they  entered  one  of  the  gates  of  Constantino 
ple,  they  were  soon  astonished  at  its  strange  diver 
sity  of  appearance  from  every  other  city.  Instead 
of  the  chaste  and  severe  beauty  of  the  Grecian  tem 
ples,  extending  their  horizontal  lines  and  purely 


PAKTHENIA.  253 

simple  pillars,  the  churches  rose  in  gorgeous  splen 
dor,  adorned  with  marbles,  of  divers  colors,  and  in- 
crusted  with  precious"  stones ;  with  domes  hanging 
in  the  air,  apparently  suspended  from  the  sky. 
This  new  feature  of  Christian  architecture,  beauti 
ful  as  it  is,  at  first  offended  the  severe  taste  of  the 
school-taught  critics,  and  until  they  had  seen  the 
masterpieces  of  Grecian  art,  brought  there  by  Con- 
stantine,  they  imagined  themselves  in  a  city  of 
Barbarians. 

"  Strange,"  said  the  companion  of  Libanius,  one 
of  the  numerous  lecturers  of  the  time,  as  they  were 
proceeding  to  the  palace,  —  "strange  that  our  en 
lightened  Emperor  should  disdain  the  restraints  of 
the  Gospel,  and  yet  make  a  voluntary  sacrifice  of 
his  reason  in  the  temples  of  the  heathen  Gods." 

"  He  can  secretly  withdraw  from  their  altars 
into  the  sanctuary  of  the  temple  of  his  conscience," 
said  Libanius,  "  and  refresh  himself  with  the  wis 
dom  which  is  concealed  beneath  the  fables  of  the 
Gods." 

"  Julian  has  had  no  ambition  to  become  a  mar 
tyr,"  persisted  the  other.  "  He  dissembled  and 
concealed  his  religion  till  it  was  safe  to  make  it 
known." 

"  The  beauty  of  truth  was  concealed  in  the  mind 
22 


254  PARTHENIA. 

of  the  Prince,"  said  his  friend,  "  and  now,  like  the 
statues  of  the  Gods,  which  have  been  hidden  in 
their  temples,  it  appears  again  with  new  conviction 
and  beauty." 

"  Will  not  truth  itself  suffer  from  such  profound 
dissimulation  ?  " 

"  The  ass  in  ^Esop  disguised  himself  under  the 
lion's  hide;  but  our  Julian,"  said  Libanius,  "con 
cealed  himself  beneath  the  skin  of  an  ass." 

The  Christians  feared  Julian's  power  much  more 
than  they  did  his  arguments.  Libanius  saw  the 
crimson  blood  rush  to  the  brow  of  his  companion, 
who  was  a  Christian,  and  would  not  resent  the  in 
sult;  but  Libanius  was  a  humane  and  generous 
man,  and  he  hastened  to  add :  "  You  have  nothing 
to  fear.  The  Emperor  is  too  careful  of  his  fame  to 
become  a  persecutor." 

"  No  ?  His  army  bless  the  fat  oxen  he  sacrifices 
to  his  Gods.  Whole  hecatombs  have  perished,  and 
the  soldiers  assist  with  fervent  devotion  and  vora 
cious  appetites  at  the  burnt-offerings." 

These  friends  of  opposite  religious  faith  were  on 
their  way  to  the  palace,  and  as  they  entered  the 
court  the  perfume  of  a  thousand  flowers,  concen 
trated  by  the  heavy  dews  of  the  night,  (for  Julian's 
audiences  were  held  in  the  early  morning,  and  he 
who  would  enjoy  his  favor  must  be  no  sluggard,) 


PARTHENIA.  255 

the  wonderful  lucidity  of  the  waters  of  the  Golden 
Horn,  the  songs  of  innumerable  birds,  the  softness 
of  the  atmosphere,  seemed  to  prophesy  to  his  friends 
that  here  at  least  the  Emperor  must  relax  the  sto 
icism  of  his  manners,  and  yield  to  the  effeminacy 
everywhere  surrounding  him. 

No,  even  here  his  robe  was  without  embroidery, 
his  hair  without  perfume,  and  his  unringed  fingers 
bore  the  marks  of  the  pen  he  had  just  been  using. 

As  they  entered,  Julian  rose  and  embraced  Li- 
banius,  and  conducted  him  to  a  seat  near  himself, 
surveying  him  with  eyes  over-brimming  with  the 
tenderness  he  felt.  "  Now,"  said  he,  "  I  feel  that 
I  am  really  Emperor,  now  that  I,  can  command  the 
presence  of  the  friends  I  best  love." 

Maximus  was  already  present.  His  dress  was 
not  without  affectation ;  for  although  he  retained 
the  coarse  cloak  of  the  philosopher,  he  wore  upon 
his  breast  that  mystic  jewel,  formed  of  a  single  eye 
of  living  sapphire,  the  lashes  of  which  were  com 
posed  of  minute  diamonds.  This  eye  flashed  light 
with  every  motion,  and,  like  that  of  Maximus  him 
self,  it  seemed  to  penetrate  the  thoughts  of  mortals. 

Having  embraced  his  friends,  Julian  continued 
his  interrupted  remarks,  which  indicated  that  he 
had  at  this  moment  in  contemplation  that  measure 
which  was  the  opprobrium  of  his  short  reign,  —  that 


256  PARTHENIA. 

of  excluding  Christians  from  the  instruction  of 
youth,  and  from  all  offices  of  trust  and  emolument 
in  the  Empire.  "  Professors- and  masters,"  he  went 
on  to  say,  "  should  be  distinguished,  first  by  their 
morals,  and  next  by  their  talents." 

"  Greek  is  by  none  taught  with  such  purity  and 
elegance  as  by  the  Christians,  Basil  and  Gregory," 
said  Libanius. 

"  The  Christians  study  the  eloquent  dialectics  of 
antiquity  in  order  to  establish  what  they  believe  to 
be  truth,"  said  Maximus. 

"  Ah  yes !  they  intoxicate  themselves  with  the 
beauty  of  the  Grecian  Muse,  before  they  turn  to  the 
chaste  caresses  of  the  Christian  virgins,"  said  Ju 
lian,  with  a  sneer. 

"  They  wound  us  with  our  own  weapons,"  said 
the  philosopher. 

"If  they  would  teach  our  authors,"  said  Julian, 
"  they  must  worship  our  Gods.  I  will  permit  them 
to  choose.  They  must  adore  the  Deities  of  Homer 
and  Demosthenes,  or  content  themselves  with  teach 
ing  Luke  and  Matthew  in  their  schools." 

"  Sire,"  said  one  present,  supposed  to  be  a  Chris 
tian,  "  how  large  a  portion  of  your  best  subjects  will 
you  condemn  to  ignorance  ?  " 

"  By  the  immortal  Gods,"  said  Julian,  his  eyes 
flashing  as  they  did  when  excited,  "  if  they  would 


PAETHENIA.  257 

enjoy  our  bounty  and  drink  of  our  libations,  they 
must  offer  sacrifices  and  supplicate  the  Gods." 

"It  is  not  with  your  Homer  and  Pindar  and 
^Eschylus  that  you  can  convert  your  subjects,  Sire  ! 
The  simplicity,  the  absolute  purity,  the  wonderful 
beauty,  of  the  sayings  of  their  Christ  charm  and 
win  their  pupils  from  all  your  Grecian  authors. 
Their  listening  ears  drink  in  the  words,  as  the 
parched  earth  drinks  up  the  evening  rain.  Then 
the  power  of  these  simple  words  that  a  child  can 
lisp  !  no  thunder  of  Demosthenes,  no  winning  ten 
derness  of  Virgil,  has  ever  wrought  such  change. 
The  rough  become  gentle  ;  the  cruel,  tender ;  the 
haughty  wins  back  his  enemy  to  love  ;  the  miser 
uncltttches  his  grasp  and  scatters  his  hoards, — 
mutual  forbearance,  the  love  to  forgive  and  bless, 
rules  in  every  household  of  Christians,  and  these 
are  the  virtues  you  must  annihilate  before  you  can 
reconvert  your  subjects  to  believe  in  your  Gods." 

Julian  had  several  times  changed  color  during 
this  speech.  "  By  those  immortal  Gods,"  he  said, 
"  I  would  neither  rob  them  of  their  virtues  nor  their 
learning.  They  shall  neither  be  scourged  unjustly, 
or  by  any  other  means  ill-treated ;  but  those  who 
worship  the  true  Gods  shall  always  be  preferred  to 
the  Galileans,  —  or  I  am  no  longer  Emperor." 
There  was  silence  for  a  moment,  interrupted  by 

0  22* 


258  PARTHENIA. 

the  entrance  of  a  person  who  had  brought  an  accu 
sation  against  a  citizen  of  Ancyra,  —  an  accusation 
which,  in  Constantius's  time,  had  been  a  capital  of 
fence.  This  man,  his  enemy  informed  the  Em 
peror,  had  prepared  for  himself  a  purple  robe, 
emulating  the  color  of  the  imperial  garment. 

"  "Well,  then,"  said  Julian,  laughing,  "  let  him 
have  a  pair  of  purple  slippers  to  complete  his  cos 
tume,  and  let  the  informer  be  scourged  barefoot 
from  the  palace.  I  am  determined,"  said  the 
Prince,  turning  to  his  friends,  "  to  purge  my  court 
of  the  whole  army  of  spies  and  informers.  They 
are  perfectly  odious  to  me.  If  I  cannot  win  the 
confidence  of  my  subjects,  and  govern  without  these 
noxious  vermin,  I  will  not  reign  at  all." 

The  Emperor  now  turned  to  one  of  his  secretaries, 
and  took  from  his  hand  a  homily  which  he  had 
himself  composed  upon  the  duties  of  the  heathen 
priests,  and  began  to  read  it  aloud.  It  was  very 
long,  and  taken  for  the  most  part  from  the  Chris 
tian  Scriptures.  The  Christians  present  could  not 
help  smiling,  as  precepts  were  read  which  must 
have  clung  to  the  memory  of  the  Prince  from  the 
Epistles  of  Paul,  as  he  formerly  read  them  in  the 
church. 

After  he  had  finished,  the  Christians  present 
found  nothing  new  in  it ;  on  the  contrary,  the 


PARTHENIA.  259 

Pagans,  especially  Libanius,  thought  it  too  strict, 
and  that  it  enjoined  upon  the  priests  a  virtue  and 
a  charity  which  none  of  those  present  would  be 
willing  to  practise. 

"  No  one  has  ever  before  thought  of  reforming 
a  religion  in  which  morality  has  always  been  a 
stranger,"  said  Libanius. 

"  It  will  be  of  little  use,"  said  Julian,  "to  restore 
and  elevate  the  temples,  if  we  leave  the  priesthood 
unreformed." 

"  The  Christians,"  said  an  Arian  present,  "  began 
with  repentance  before  reformation." 

"  We  will  oppose  virtue  to  virtue,  discipline  to 
discipline,"  said  Julian.  "  Even  the  women  shall 
be  subdued  to  the  obedience  of  our  ascetic  rule." 

"  That  is  not  the  rule  of  the  Christians,  Sire," 
said  one  of  those  present.  "  The  Christians  have 
converted  man's  home  from  the  anarchy  of  hell  to 
the  bliss  of  paradise.  They  have  made  the  fireside 
an  altar  to  love,  where  they  cherish  and  guard  the 
purity  of  woman.  Their  young  women  are  like 
angels,  their  children  messengers  from  heaven." 

"  Enough,  enough,"  said  Julian.  "  Let  those 
who  will,  dwell  in  their  paradise  of  married  angels. 
Our  business  is  with  the  priesthood.  The  goodness 
or  the  wickedness  of  the  people  has  its  principal 
source  in  the  good  or  bad  example  of  its  teachers." 


260  PARTHENIA. 

"  And  we  are  ready  to  lay  upon  them  a  burden 
which  one  of  us  would  not  touch  with  the  finger," 
said  Libanius. 

"  No,  I  do  not  demand  more  than  I  have  already 
done.  Not  to  praise  myself,  when  the  estates  of  my 
mother,  which  had  been  forcibly  kept  back,  were 
restored  to  me,  I  bestowed  them  upon  the  needy." 

"  How  can  those  who,  like  myself,  have  been 
presented  with  a  noble  estate,  ever  forget  thy  gen 
erosity,  Sire  ? "  said  ^Etius,  an  Arian  prelate  who 
was  present.  "  The  beautiful  park  you  have  given 
me  in  the  island  of  Lesbos  is  a  precious  reminder 
that  I  owe  thee  eternal  gratitude." 

"  You  must  cancel  the  debt  with  Lesbian  odes, 
surpassing  those  of  your  great  predecessor,  Sappho, 
unless  you  prefer  canticles  in  honor  of  the  car 
penter's  son,"  said  Julian,  with  a  bitter  smile. 

Julian  sometimes  robbed  his  nobleness  of  its 
charm  by  the  sarcasms  he  cast  about  him.  Yet 
his  liberality  was  boundless.  He  exhausted  his 
private  possessions  in  gifts  to  his  friends.  To  one 
he  presented  a  farm,  to  another  a  villa,  a  house,  a 
park.  To  his  youthful  adherents  he  gave  horses,  a 
carriage,  a  mantle  ;  in  his  letters  there  is  perpetual 
mention  of  smaller  gifts,  such  as  precious  figs,  rare 
wines,  costly  jewels.  Julian  was  really  generous. 
The  charm  of  his  manners  and  the  influence  of  the 


PARTHENIA.  261 

purple,  no  doubt,  magnified  his  noble  deeds  beyond 
their  real  merit ;  but  he  practised  secretly  a  touch 
ing  form  of  generosity,  in  providing  for  those  female 
attendants  in  the  temples  who  had  been  deprived 
of  their  living  through  the  closing  or  destruction  of 
these  temples.  There  are  letters  of  his  in  which 
these  timid  pensioners  are  mentioned  in  words  of 
pity  and  tenderness. 


262 


CHAPTER    XXIII. 

THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 

• 

PARTHENIA  had  faithfully  read,  and  had  begun  to 
understand,  the  spirit  of  the  Gospels ;  her  woman's 
heart  felt  their  sweetness  and  purity,  but  her  Greek 
instructed  mind  revolted  at  the  humility  and  self- 
abnegation  they  enjoined  upon  those  who  believed  in 
Him  whose  life  they  exhibited.  She  witnessed  the 
daily  duty  of  Christians,  so  full  of  peace  and  beauty ; 
she  saw  how  easy  the  severest  self-denial  was  made 
to  them  ;  she  observed  the  fidelity  of  domestic  life, 
the  devotion  to  each  other  of  the  married,  the  ten 
derness  of  parents  for  their  children ;  she  saw  how 
the  stern  and  noble  duties  of  friendship  were  per 
formed  by  those  who  were  reproached  by  the  world 
as  base,  unfaithful,  and  criminal. 

The  form  of  Christian  worship  also  presented 
itself  to  her  artistic  mind  divested  of  the  grace  and 
beauty  she  had  been  accustomed  to  in  the  pageant 
ry  of  the  Grecian  ceremonial ;  she  missed  the  pro- 


PARTHENIA.  263 

cessions,  banners,  flowers,  and  music ;  the  golden 
and  laurel  crowns ;  the  games  and  dramas ;  the 
odes  chanted  by  a  thousand  voices ;  the  incense  ris 
ing  from  a  thousand  different  points ;  —  she  missed 
much  that  was  chastely  beautiful,  as  well  as  that 
which  was  gorgeously  rich.  The  Christians  in 
their  forms  of  public  worship  borrowed  from  the 
heathen  ceremonial ;  but  to  a  mind  fed  upon  the 
pure  laws  of  artistic  beauty  their  worship  lacked 
grace,  and  appeared  homely  and  formal. 

Then  also  the  laws  of  morality  were  apparently 
shaken  or  changed.  In  the  heathen  code,  not  of 
Plato,  but  of  common  use,  humility  was  base,  and 
pride  the  source  of  all  greatness  ;  with  the  Chris 
tian,  pride  was  a  vice,  and  humility  a  precious  vir 
tue.  "  Blessed  are  the  poor  in  spirit,"  revolted 
even  her  woman's  standard.  She  could  not  at  once 
admit  the  different  grades  and  proportions  of  vir 
tues  and  vices,  when  regarded  from  a  Christian  or 
Heathen  point  of  view. 

One  of  the  most  touching  ceremonies  of  the 
Christian  religion  was  to  take  place  on  the  next 
Sabbath,  —  the  ceremony  of  confirmation,  which 
the  Church  in  its  sagacity  has  placed  just  on  the 
threshold  of  adolescence.  At  the  moment  when  the 
heart  begins  to  feel  the  charm  and  the  peril  of  the 


264  PARTHENIA. 

passions,  when  new  sympathy  and  added  succor  are 
needed  by  the  young  stranger  entering  the  seduc 
tive  paths  of  life,  the  Church  does  not  forget  him ; 
it  holds  in  reserve  a  support ;  the  confirmation  and 
first  communion  is  the  beautiful  ceremony  of  be 
trothal  to  Christian  duty. 

The  great  church  was  prepared  for  the  ceremony. 
The  Christians,  as  I  have  said,  borrowed  many  love 
ly  decorations  from  the  pagan  temples,  —  flowers, 
the  freshest  offerings  of  nature  to  the  Divinity  ;  and 
perfumes,  a  legacy  of  love  from  the  flowers ;  and  in 
cense  as  it  ascends,  the  emblem  of  the  aspiring  soul. 
The  organ,  that  gift  from  the  Church,  had  not  yet 
been  invented,  but  thousands  of  youthful  voices 
chanted  the  Hebrew  psalms  and  filled  the  church 
with  melody. 

The  church  was  densely  crowded ;  the  esplanade 
in  front  was  also  thronged  ;  for,  in  addition  to  the 
confirmation,  a  great  man,  an  officer  of  the  govern 
ment,  had  sought  refuge  from  his  enemies  at  the 
sanctuary  of  the  Christian  altar. 

The  church,  as  I  have  mentioned  before,  was  in 
the  form  of  a  Greek  cross,  and  surmounted  by  a 
dome,  as  the  emblem  of  eternity,  colored  blue  and 
powdered  with  stars,  to  represent  the  eternal  heav 
ens  resting  over  the  earthly  worshippers.  Parthe- 
nia,  entering  with  Monica,  did  not  perceive  these 


PAETHENIA.  265 

spiritual  ideas,  which  were  beginning  to  be  ex 
pressed  in  Christian  architecture.  TQ  her  pure 
Greek  taste,  the  church  was  too  profusely  orna 
mented,  and  wanting  in  the  simple  unity  of  the 
pagan  temples. 

Monica  and  herself  took  their  places  in  the  gal 
lery,  beneath  the  dome,  appropriated  to  women. 
How  was  Parthenia's  pure  taste  offended  by  the 
gaudy  dresses  of  the  ladies!  Upon  the  robes  of 
some  of  the  most  distinguished  were  embroidered 
or  woven  in  many  colors  New  Testament  histories, 
such  as  Lazarus  in  torment,  or  the  miracles  of  Je 
sus.  Each  was  attended  by  a  page  or  by  a  young 
female  slave,  bearing  a  large  embroidered  purse, 
from  which  the  lady  ostentatiously  distributed  her 
charity. 

"Are  they  really  persons  of  rank?"  she  asked 
Monica.  "  Do  they  not  hold  a  less  respectable  sta 
tion  ?  " 

"  Alas !  "  said  Monica,  "  the  Church  is  as  corrupt 
as  the  women  are  vain.  Look  at  those  ecclesias 
tics  just  entering ;  see  their  gorgeous  surplices  and 
jewelled  capes ;  and  how  can  we  expect  women  to 
be  exempt  from  vanity?  " 

The  church  was  filled  to  its  utmost  capacity. 
There  were  ten  thousand  persons  present.  The 
Bishop's  entrance  was  greeted  with  prolonged  shouts 

23 


266  PAETHENIA. 

and  clapping  of  hands,  which  rose  to  the  dome,  and 
seemed  to  shake  the  foundations  of  the  temple. 
Parthenia  turned  to  her  companion.  "  Is  that  the 
man,"  she  asked,  "of  such  power  and  influence  that 
he  sways  this  great  multitude  at  his  will  ?  " 

"Yes,"  said  the  other;  "look  at  his  slender,  fra 
gile  body,  his  sunken  cheek,  pale  but  for  one  burn 
ing  spot,  and  at  those  eyes,  which,  when  they  turn 
towards  you,  seem  to  reveal  depths  through  which 
eternity  burns  in  wrath  or  love.  Look,  and  ac 
knowledge  in  that  frail  instrument  the  intense  pow 
er  of  Christianity." 

"  You  forget,"  said  Parthenia,  "  that  to  me  this 
pageant,  though  deeply  interesting,  is  not  so  sig 
nificant  as  to  you  Christians.  I  do  not  know  the 
meaning  or  significance  of  that  dark  figure  clinging 
to  the  steps  of  the  altar." 

There  was  indeed  prostrate  upon  the  steps  of  the 
altar  a  noble  figure,  clothed  wholly  in  sackcloth, 
and  with  his  head  thickly  sprinkled  with  ashes. 
This  was  an  officer  high  in  rank,  and  one  of  the 
great  men  of  the  city,  who  had  offended  the  people ; 
and  although  the  bitter  enemy  of  the  Bishop,  he 
had  fled  to  the  altar,  placing  himself  under  the  pro 
tection  of  one  whom  he  had  deeply  injured. 

The  hymn  was  read,  and  now  there  arose  from 
that  vast  multitude  the  music  of  a  thousand  voices ; 


PARTHENIA.  267 

the  sea  of  melody  filling  the  circumference  of  the 
immense  church,  ascending  to  the  dome  and  cir 
cling  around  it,  as  it  mounted  higher  and  higher ; 
the  heavy  thundering  base,  the  softer  tenor,  the  ex 
quisite  purity  of  the  virgin  soprano,  the  shrill  piping 
of  the  children,  the  trembling  voice  of  age,  for  all 
united,  young  and  old,  slaves  with  their  masters, 
children  with  their  parents,  inspired,  as  with  one  di 
vine  impulse,  to  fill  the  church  with  the  praise  of 
God.  The  melody  of  the  hymn  had  scarcely  died 
away,  when  a  great  noise  was  heard  without  the 
church ;  then  began  the  clashing  of  arms,  drawn 
swords,  and  the  trampling  of  a  great  multitude. 
The  officers  of  justice,  with  a  detachment  of  soldiers, 
had  entered  to  demand  the  fugitive  at  the  altar.  A 
tumult  arose,  and  many  persons  left  the  church. 

"  What  will  the  Bishop  do  ?  "  asked  Parthenia. 
"  Will  he  deliver  his  own  enemy  into  the  hands  of 
his  enemies  ?  " 

"  No !  "  said  Monica.  "  The  Church  protects  the 
guilty  as  well  as  the  innocent.  See,  the  Bishop 
comes  down  from  the  pulpit ;  he  confronts  the  sol 
diers." 

"  Listen !  what  does  he  say  ?  "  The  soldiers 
have  suddenly  paused  in  their  march  to  the  altar, 
and  their  jewelled  swords  ring  on  the  pavement. 

He  has  told  them  that  only  through  his  body  shall 


268  PAKTHENIA. 

they  approach  the  altar !  He  has  said  to  them,  that 
not  till  they  have  hewn,  him  down  shall  they  seize 
that  trembling  fugitive. 

The  frail  and  bending  form  of  the  Bishop  seemed 
to  expand  and  enlarge,  as  he  stood  before  those 
angry  men ;  but  they  turned,  amazed  at  the  majesty 
and  power  of  this  fragile  being.  They  shrank  at 
his  flashing  eye  and  inspired  voice.  These  bold, 
intrepid  men  of  iron  paused,  looked  at  each  other, 
and  then  left  the  church. 

"  It  was  his  bitter  enemy  that  he  shielded  with 
his  own  life,"  said  Monica;  "  and  this  enemy  could 
trust  in  none  but  him  whom  he  had  deeply  in 
jured." 

"  The  basest  of  men  turn  in  extremity  of  peril 
to  the  best,"  said  Parthenia. 

"  He  knows  that  the  Bishop  is  a  follower  of 
Christ,  and,  like  his  Master,  will  return  good  for 
evil,"  said  the  matron. 

"  Even  without  your  Christ,  men  have  faith  in 
each  other.  How  many  noble  friendships  are  there 
in  our  ancient  histories ! " 

"  Ah,  yes  !  but  these  are  exceptions.  *  If  you  love 
those  who  love  you,  what  merit  have  ye  ? '  asks 
Christ.  It  is  only  the  Crucified  who  upon  the 
cross  cried,  <  Father,  forgive  them  !  '  He  only 
has  taught  us  to  forgive  and  love  our  deadliest 
enemy." 


PARTHENIA.  269 

Parthenia  was  in  no  mood  to  contend.  She 
thought  of  Socrates,  and  continued  silent. 

After  rescuing  the  fugitive,  who  still  remained 
covered  with  sackcloth  at  the  foot  of  the  altar,  the 
Bishop  ascended  the  pulpit.  The  sermon  was  ad 
dressed  to  the  young;  but  at  every  brilliant  passage, 
at  every  striking  thought,  exclamations  and  plaudits 
broke  forth.  Parthenia  observed  that  the  women 
were  the  most  conspicuous  and  eager  in  clapping 
their  hands,  waving  their  perfumed  handkerchiefs, 
and  bending  forward  to  catch  every  accent  that 
fell  from  those  golden  lips ;  for  it  was  Chrysostom, 
the  eloquent  preacher,  the  almost  adored  confessor, 
who  received  the  name  of  the  "  Golden-mouthed."* 

The  beautiful  ceremony  of  confirmation  took  place 
after  the  sermon.  Processions  of  young  persons  of 
both  sexes,  clothed  in  spotless  robes  of  white,  wear 
ing  crowns  of  fresh  flowers,  each  with  its  catechist 
at  its  head,  drew  near  and  knelt  around  the  railing 
of  the  altar.  Parthenia  looked  on,  as  hundreds  of 
these  young  heads  bent  successively  beneath  the 
benediction  of  the  Bishop.  She  remained  in  perfect 
quiet,  silently  contrasting  the  purity  and  beauty  of 
this  ceremony  with  one  somewhat  analogous  in  her 

*  Chrysostom  was  sixteen  years  older  than  Julian,  and  preached  at 
Antioch,  his  native  city ;  but  Julian  died  before  the  most  brilliant 
part  of  the  career  of  Chrysostom  commenced. 
23* 


270  PARTHENIA. 

own  religion,  —  that  in  which  the  young  were  initi 
ated  into  the  mysteries  of  the  Festival  of  Adonis,  — 
which,  although  it  began  in  chaste  and  lovely  cere 
monies,  ended  in  dancing,  and  in  orgies  corrupting 
to  the  purity  of  both  sexes. 

Monica  had  descended  to  the  floor  of  the  church, 
to  be  nearer  the  centre  of  interest,  and  hours  passed 
insensibly  while  the  Greek  maiden  remained  in  per 
fect  quietude.  Her  whole  life  passed  before  her  in 
living  pictures,  as  it  is  sometimes  said  to  pass  before 
the  mind  of  the  drowning.  Was  there  any  part  of 
it  since  her  childhood  that  she  would  recall  ?  Had 
there  been  an  hour  when  her  soul  had  found  its 
complement  of  good  ?  She  had  heard  persons  say, 
they  would  live  over  their  lives  without  change. 
Ah !  they  had  sat  at  a  full  table.  Their  souls  had 
never  hungered.  Had  it  been  so  with  her?  Ah, 
no !  She  had  had  moments  of  bliss.  Once,  in 
Athens,  when  Julian  whispered  words  of  love.  But 
could  she  stay  the  wings  of  that  fleeting  moment  ? 
Had  the  full  cup  ever  been  at  her  lips  ?  Had  she 
ever  held  the  thread  of  her  destiny  in  her  own 
hand  ?  Yes,  for  one  moment,  when  he  whispered, 
"  My  Parthenia !  "  But  she  had  not  had  courage 
to  lift  the  full  cup  to  her  lips.  Nemesis,  smiling, 
had  offered  her  the  thread,  but  it  had  slipped  away 
from  her  hand. 


PARTHENIA.  271 

She  thought  of  her  Greek  life.  How  little  suf 
ficed  for  happiness  in  Athens,  —  nature,  beauty,  art! 
But  had  these  ever  filled  the  measure  of  her  soul  ? 
Ah,  no !  She  had  longed  for  something  beyond ; 
her  heart  had  been  empty.  With  the  memory  of 
Athens  arose  the  beautiful  forms  of  their  Deities, 
and  the  ceremonies  of  their  worship.  How  simple 
was  that  of  the  Christian  now  before  her !  She  felt 
at  this  moment  what  she  had  read  in  the  Gospels ; 
that  theirs  was  an  inward  principle ;  that  the  mo 
tive  was  al^  and  the  outward  act  little.  Then  the 
spectacle  below  in  the  church,  —  how  adverse  from 
all  her  previously  formed  ideas  of  power !  The 
great  man,  the  ruler,  lying  in  sackcloth  upon  the 
steps  of  the  altar,  and  that  fragile  and  lowly  being, 
with  only  the  cross  in  his  hand,  turning  back  the 
armed  strength  of  the  mighty,  and  conquering  by 
meekness.  Surely,  she  thought,  it  must  be  true. 
He  who  would  be  chief  among  these  Christians 
must  be  the  servant  of  all. 

Christians  aver,  she  said  within  herself,  that  they 
have  constant  communion  with  an  ever-present 
heavenly  Friend,  and  that  this  spiritual  communion 
fills  up  their  capacity  of  joy.  the  measure  of  their 
bliss  !  Ah  that  I  could  attain  that  joy  !  But  this 
religion  of  the  Crucified  One  is  not  the  religion  of 
joy,  but  of  sorrow.  The  Christians  love  their  Christ 


272  PARTHENIA. 

so  intensely,  that  they  thank  him  for  pain  and  sor 
row,  because  it  likens  them  to  him.  0  that  I 
could  love  him  thus!  She  raised  her  eyes  to  the 
statue  of  Christ  above  the  altar,  already  mentioned. 
The  waning  light  fell  upon  the  face  in  such  manner 
as  to  bring  out  the  whole  beauty  and  tenderness  of 
the  expression.  Divine  pity  and  love  seemed  to 
look  from  those  eyes  directly  upon  her.  At  this 
moment,  a  single  voice  of  exquisite  purity  sang  the 
words : 

"  Jesus,  hast  thou  borne  the  pain, 
And  hath  it  all  been  borne  in  vain  ?  " 

They  seemed  addressed  to  her,  spoken  to  her  heart. 
"  Ah,  no !  "  her  heart  answered,  "it  has  not  been  in 
vain.  I  believe  in  thee,  0  thou  Divine  Jesus!  " 

It  was  not  through  reasoning  that  Parthenia 
would  receive  the  Christian  faith.  Her  imagi 
nation  must  be  excited, — her  heart  touched.  The 
fables  of  her  Greek  mythology  had  long  since  lost 
their  influence.  She  believed  in  the  one  eternal 
Spirit  of  Plato,  but  her  heart  demanded  something 
more,  —  a  being  of  more  human  sympathies  for  her 
to  trust  in,  and  to  love. 

She  heard  approaching  footsteps.  She  rose  and 
looked  around.  The  congregation  had  left  the 
church,  and  the  officers  were  approaching  to  see 
that  all  was  safe.  Still  she  lingered,  and  looked 


PARTHENIA.  27o 

again  at  the  countenance  of  the  Saviour.  Ah,  she 
sighed  for  a  beam,  a  look,  from  that  divine  counte 
nance  such  as  Mary  met  at  his  tomb  !  She  seemed 
to  hear  a  voice  close  to  her  ear  which  whispered, 
"  I  am  near  thee,  even  in  thy  heart."  She  looked 
hastily  around :  there  was  no  one  in  the  church. 
She  needed  but  this.  She  sank  upon  her  knees, 
and  tears  came  to  her  relief. 

When  she  rose  to  leave  the  church,  she  saw  by 
the  long  shadows  of  the  pillars  that  the  daylight 
was  departing.  The  soft  flames  of  the  silver  lamps, 
already  lighted,  were  reflected  like  stars  in  the 
polished  marble  of  the  pavement.  The  shadowy 
beings  around,  in  the  pictures  on  the  walls,  and 
the  soft  gleam  of  the  marble  statues,  and  all  the 
emblems  of  the  Christian  faith,  the  cross,  the  lamb, 
and  the  palm,  assumed  a  mysterious  and  subduing 
influence  upon  the  soul  of  the  Grecian  maiden,  and 
from  that  hour  she  confessed  herself  a  Christian. 


274 


CHAPTER    XXIY. 

THE  EMPEROR  IN  ANTIOCH. 

JULIAN  had  determined  to  pass  the  winter  in 
Antioch,  that  city  so  full  of  seductive  pleasures. 
The  philosopher,  the  stoic,  the  ascetic,  feared  none 
of  these.  He  began  his  journey  on  the  first  of 
June,  and  at  the  different  cities  through  which  he 
passed  he  was  met,  not,  like  former  Emperors,  with 
gifts  of  rare  animals  and  birds,  exquisite  works  of 
art,  and  presents  of  gold  and  jewels  ;  for  Julian, 
a  patron  of  genius  and  cultivation,  had  appointed 
as  governors  of  the  provinces  men  learned  and 
skilled  in  belles-lettres ;  he  was  therefore  received 
with  discourses,  and  speeches  full  of  flattery,  which 
he  answered  in  choice  Greek  orations,  that  he  had 
sat  up  all  the  previous  night  to  compose. 

At  Pessinos  he  paused  to  consult  the  Cybeline 
oracle.  Callixine,  the  priestess,  who  had  suffered 
from  the  persecution  of  the  Christians,  met  him 
with  joy,  taking  care  to  give  him  answers  from  the 


PARTHENIA.  275 

oracle  which  flattered  all  his  designs ;  he  not  only 
confirmed  her  in  her  privilege  as  interpreter  of 
Cybele,  but  appointed  her  priestess  of  the  neigh 
boring  temple  of  Ceres. 

As  he  continued  his  journey,  he  found  himself 
besieged  by  all  sorts  of  persons,  who  came  to  com 
plain  or  to  ask  for  favors.  He  listened  to  them 
with  exemplary  patience,  and  judged  them  with 
equity,  punishing  severely  those  who  calumniated 
the  innocent,  through  malice,  or  to  deprive  them 
of  possessions  which  they  wished  to  appropriate  to 
themselves.  To  those  who  came  trembling  before 
him,  lest  some  old  and  almost  forgotten  fault 
should  be  remembered,  he  said,  "  Go  home  and  tell 
your  neighbors  that  you  live  under  a  prince  who 
follows  the  maxim  of  a  great  philosopher,  and  seeks 
with  all  his  heart  to  diminish  the  number  of  his 
enemies,  and  increase  that  of  his  friends." 

Antioch  had  put  on  a  festive  air  to  meet  her  Em 
peror.  The  long  colonnades  of  marble  pillars  were 
wreathed  with  flowers ;  the  fountains,  so  profusely 
gushing  in  every  part  of  the  city,  sent  the  whole  of 
their  sparkling  waters  into  the  blue  vault ;  and  the 
Pagan  priesthood,  with  statues  and  music,  incense 
and  victims,  went  out  to  meet  their  favorite  Em 
peror  ;  and  even  the  Christian  population,  hoping 
from  Julian's  clemency  and  his  reputed  generosity 


276  PARTHENIA. 

of  character  a  wise,  if  not  a  perfect  toleration,  also 
joined  the  wide  jubilee. 

The  Christians,  however,  soon  fled  to  their  homes 
and  shut  their  doors,  for  they  saw  approaching  pro 
cessions  of  women  in  long  mourning  robes,  their 
hair  flowing  and  scattered  with  ashes,  accompanied 
by  flutes  with  sad  and  plaintive  sounds ;  and  they 
recollected  that  it  was  the  first  day  of  the  feast  of 
Adonis,  when  the  women  with  tears  and  rent  gar 
ments  and  scattered  ashes  weep  and  lament  for 
their  darling. 

Julian  esteemed  himself  fortunate  to  enter  the 
city  upon  the  day  of  this  Pagan  festival.  Soon  he 
met  the  lofty  car  upon  which  the  gold  and  ivory 
statue  of  Adonis  was  laid  upon  a  couch  spread  with 
the  softest  purple.  The  gardens  of  Adonis  followed. 
These  were  symbolic  of  the  influence  of  the  sun 
upon  vegetation  in  the  most  genial  season  of  the 
year,  and  consisted  of  vases  and  baskets  filled  with 
earth  and  sown  with  wheat,  fennel,  lettuce,  quick- 
growing  seeds,  which,  by  the  effect  of  concentrated 
heat  at  the  centre  of  the  vases,  sprouted,  and  be 
came  in  a  very  short  time  of  a  vivid  green,  symbol 
izing  by  the  fresh  verdure,  which  faded  no  less 
rapidly,  the  powerful  influence  of  the  sun.  Flowers 
of  every  hue  were  also  borne  in  this  procession, 
and  "  all  pretty  things  that  fade"  to  symbolize  the 


PARTHENIA.  277 

gloom  which  follows,  when  Adonis  or  the  sun  with 
draws  to  spend  the  winter  months  with  Proserpine 
in  the  shades  below. 

Then  followed,  borne  by  young  virgins  just  enter 
ing  adolescence,  golden  baskets  filled  with  cakes 
of  fine  wheat  and  honey,  fashioned  in  every  form 
of  flowers,  birds,  butterflies,  and  creeping  things. 
Verdant  canopies  were  borne  aloft  by  female  slaves, 
where  young  nightingales  flitted  from  bough  to 
bough,  and  white  doves,  sacred  to  Aphrodite  and 
Adonis,  murmured  in  sweet  tones  their  song  of 
love. 

The  Christians  in  Antioch  were  placed  in  a  most 
embarrassing  position.  They  would  fain  have  gone 
to  meet  Julian.  They  wished  to  express  their  ap 
preciation  of  his  noble  qualities,  as  they  would  also 
have  followed  the  precept  of  their  Master,  to  render 
homage  where  homage  was  due.  But  how  could 
they  countenance  by  their  presence  in  the  street 
this  Pagan  abomination,  this  most  corrupt  of  the 
heathen  festivals,  the  Thammuz  of  the  Old  Testa 
ment,  which  the  Syrian  damsels  went  out  to  Leb 
anon  to  lament  "  all  through  a  summer's  day  "  ? 
We  have  described  only  the  graceful  ceremonies  of 
the  first  day  of  the  festival.  It  went  on  increasing 
its  excitements,  till  it  ended  in  orgies  too  dreadful 
to  mention.  No  wonder  that  Parthenia  contrasted 

24 


278  PAETHENJA. 

the  chaste  and  beautiful  ceremonies  of  the  Christian 
Church  with  these  debasing  customs  of  Paganism. 

Libanius  had  returned  to  his  native  city,  and  the 
Emperor  upon  this,  his  entrance,  sought  impatient 
ly  among  the  crowd,  at  every  turn,  the  face  of  his 
friend.  Julian  had  the  rare  good  fortune  for  a 
Prince,  to  feel  that  he  possessed  a  real  friend.  For 
bidden  as  a  youth  to  hear  the  lectures  of  Libanius, 
he  had  them  stealthily  copied  for  his  use,  and  thus 
they  were  invested  with  the  charm  of  stolen  fruit ; 
when  he  became  a  man,  he  sought  the  society  of  the 
philosopher,  and  lived  with  him  upon  the  footing 
of  a  reciprocal  and  unostentatious  friendship  An 
adherent  of  the  old  religion,  Libanius  sympathized 
in  all  Julian's  measures,  and  rejoiced  to  see  the 
temples  of  the  Pagan  Gods  opened,  music  and 
poetry  again  taking  possession  of  the  groves,  and 
Apollo  and  the  Muses  restored  to  their  ancient 
places. 

Notwithstanding  all  this,  Libanius  went  not  out 
to  meet  the  Emperor  when  he  entered  Antioch. 
The  eye  of  Julian  sought  his  friend  in  all  the 
crowds,  and  at  last  perceived  him  afar  off,  making 
no  effort  to  approach  him. 

"  There  is  one,"  said  the  Emperor  to  the  person 
nearest  him,  "  who  loves  me  as  well  as  even  my 


PARTHENIA.  279 

mother  did,  and  yet  lie  will  accept  nothing  from 
me." 

"  Sire,  an  enemy  would  say,  that,  in  refusing  the 
gifts  of  his  Prince,  he  would  place  himself  upon  the 
same  level  with  him." 

"  No,  he  is  not  proud,  neither  is  he  attached  to 
my  fortune,  but  to  my  person." 

"  Fortunate  man,"  said  the  other,  "  to  possess  the 
esteem  as  well  as  the  favor  of  his  Emperor ;  but 
believe  me,  Sire,  his  ambition  towers  too  high  !  He 
would  be  paid  for  his  disinterestedness  by  the  favors 
he  would  exact  from  an  equal." 

"  Let  him ;  in  all  gifts  of  the  mind,  he  is  far 
above  princes,  and  I  find  his  heart  of  as  pure  gold 
as  his  intellect." 

Many  days  passed,  and  Libanius  did  not  approach 
the  anterooms  of  the  palace.  When  asked  the 
reason,  he  said,  that  he  had  been  the  friend  of 
the  Prince  in  his  adversity,  and  that  he  would 
never  be  the  courtier  of  the  Emperor. 

Julian  wrote  him  a  note,  treating  with  piquant 
raillery  his  desertion  of  his  friend,  and  asking  at 
what  price  he  should  purchase  his  society  ? 

Libanius  returned  the  tablet  with  an  answer,  in 
the  same  tone  of  delicate  irony,  but  he  went  not  to 
the  palace. 

"  What !  "  said  the  Emperor, "  does  he  expect  mo 


280  PARTHEN1A. 

to  go  to  him,  and  upon  my  knees  beg  for  the  alms 
of  his  conversation  ?  " 

At  length  Libanius  presented  himself.  Julian 
with  embarrassed  and  sensitive  friendship  excused 
himself  for  the  elevation  which  had  been  forced 
upon  him,  and  pleaded  with  Libanius  for  perfect 
equality  in  private,  when  he  was  with  his  friend 
alone.  He  wished,  he  said,  to  have  his  own  tin- 
worthiness  corrected  by  a  friend.  The  interview 
ended,  the  Emperor  turned  suddenly  upon  him,  and 
asked  him  to  share  his  solitary  and  frugal  dinner. 

"  I  never  dine,"  said  the  stoic. 

"  Ah,  well !  let  us  sup  together." 

"  Supper  gives  me  the  headache.  Or  at  least  I 
am  too  ill  to-day,"  he  said,  observing  Julian's  mor 
tification. 

"  At  least  come  and  see  me  often,  I  pray  you ; 
forget  not  our  old  and  tried  friendship." 

Libanius  answered  gravely,  "  I  will  come,  Sire, 
whenever  you  send  for  me.  I  cannot  render  my 
self  importunate  to  the  Emperor." 

"  So  be  it,"  said  Julian,  and  he  kept  his  word. 
At  this  price  he  enjoyed  the  conversation,  the  praises, 
and  the  reprimands  of  his  friend.  In  all  this  Julian 
is  more  to  be  admired  than  Libanius.  The.  latter, 
by  refusing  the  favors  of  the  Emperor,  placed  him 
self  upon  a  level  with  his  Prince,  extremely  flatter- 


PARTHENIA.  281. 

ing  to  a  subject.  He  wished  to  be  paid  by  exacting 
attentions  for  the  disinterestedness  of  refusing  fa 
vors.  Julian  wanted  some  one  with  whom  he  could 
enjoy  the  luxury  of  sincerity.  Others  were  syco 
phants,  and  with  all  others  he  was  an  actor,  at  least 
since  the  death  of  Eusebia.  With  Libanius  he 
wished  to  have  no  false  relations :  he  was  a  friend, 
one  of  those  rare  beings  of  which  only  one  or  two 
are  to  be  met  with  in  a  lifetime. 

The  Emperor  had  formed  a  most  agreeable  idea 
of  the  city  of  Antioch,  of  the  genial  influences  of 
the  climate,  and  the  purity  of  the  atmosphere.  A 
large  portion  of  the  inhabitants  were  Christians,  and 
this  great  people,  though  enervated  by  the  seductive 
influences  of  the  climate  and  passionately  loving 
the  theatre,  were  yet  proud  to  bear  the  Christian 
name,  which  had  its  birth  within  its  walls.  Chris 
tians,  and  lovers  of  pleasure  !  Julian  was  as  little 
consistent  in  an  opposite  direction.  A  Pagan,  with 
manners  of  singular  austerity,  superstitious  and 
philosophic,  he  could  not  fail  to  displease  the  An- 

9 

tiochians,  both  as  a  restorer  of  Paganism  and  as  an 
enemy  of  pleasure.  He  tolerated  no  debauch,  and 
lent  himself  to  no  spectacle  except  such  as  made 
part  of  the  religious  festivals.  Antioch  loved  all 
pageantry,  except  such  as  related  to  the  worship  of 
the  Gods.  In  one  word,  they  had  nothing  in  com- 

24* 


282  PARTHENU . 

mon  except  a  spirit  of  caustic  raillery,  so  that 
Julian  was  not  long  in  discovering  that  he  was 
despised. 

At  first,  observing  their  predominant  taste  for 
amusement  and  pleasure,  he  persuaded  himself  that 
they  had  only  a  superficial  attachment  to  Chris 
tianity,  and  that,  by  the  preparation  of  fetes  and 
spectacles  inseparable  from  the  Pagan  worship,  he 
should  draw  them  off  to  Paganism;  and  that  he 
should  gain  their  hearts  by  that  affability  which  had 
succeeded  in  Gaul  and  elsewhere.  He  had  not  re 
flected  sufficiently  upon  his  own  character,  neither 
upon  the  genius  of  this  capital  of  the  East. 

"  They  were  first  called  Christians  in  Antioch." 
Since  that  day  a  large  part  of  the  world  had  been 
conquered  by  Christian  constancy.  The  belief,  if 
not  the  spirit,  of  Christianity  had  penetrated  social 
manners  and  institutions.  In  Antioch  the  Church 
had  enjoyed  all  the  verdure  of  its  spring.  In  its 
young  and  vigorous  growth  there  was  a  magnifi 
cent  efflorescence  of  virtues,  of  ideas,  of  intellectual 

» 

riches.  This  happy  season  could  not  last.  The 
flowers  must  pass  and  the  leaves  must  fall,  but  the 
root  became  more  firm,  the  trunk  stronger,  and 
harder  to  endure. 

The  Church,  even  in  its  third  century,  had  de 
veloped  with  its  growth  all  the  elements  of  division. 


PARTHENIA.  288 

111  many  of  its  bishops,  intellectual  power  had  taken 
the  place  of  evangelical  morality.  Doctors  in  the 
school  succeeded  the  martyrs  in  the  prisons ;  the 
Pagans  listened,  astonished  to  hear  the  systems  of 
their  philosophers  more  clearly  and  eloquently  ex 
plained  by  the  Fathers  of  the  Church  than  in  their 
own  schools.  Together  with  the  intellectual  growth 
of  the  Church,  divisions  and  heresies  increased,  and 
gave  place  to  the  greatest  disorders.  Heresies  were 
to  Christianity  what  systems  of  philosophy  had 
been  to  Paganism,  with  this  difference,  —  those  sys 
tems  were  the  truth  of  the  Pagan  religion,  while 
the  heresies  were  the  errors  of  Christianity.  Divid 
ed  as  the  Church  was  into  innumerable  sects,  like 
a  river  parted  into  a  multitude  of  streams,  each 
changed  by  the  impure  channel  through  which  it 
has  passed,  yet  it  was  continually  purifying  itself, 
from  the  infinite  purity  at  the  fountain  of  its  waters. 
Julian  had  studied  all  other  religions.  They 
contained  in  themselves  the  principle  of  dissolution. 
Christianity  alone,  from  its  Divine  origin,  possessed 
life  in  itself,  and  the  power  of  purifying  away  its 
errors.  But  Julian  did  not  recognize  this  truth. 
He  admitted  the  virtues  of  the  Christians,  but  he 
refused  to  recognize  their  source,  and  believed 
that,  by  stifling  the  various  sects  of  Christians  be 
neath  the  ancient  worship,  he  should  suppress  them 


284  PARTHENIA. 

altogether.  This  was  the  error  of  one  who  saw  but 
the  exterior  of  things,  the  movement  upon  the  sur 
face,  and  did  not  perceive  the  essential  idea  repos 
ing  at  the  foundation. 

Julian  had  not  been  able  to  recognize  the  signs 
through  which  this  new  epoch  in  the  history  of  hu 
manity  was  made  known.  In  the  words  of  another, 
"  Every  deep-moving  truth  sends  before  itself  scat 
tered  messengers,  who  predict  the  new-coming  event 
in  the  fortunes  of  humanity.  Together  with  these 
messengers  of  the  new,  appear  men  in  whom  feeling 
and  imagination  overweigh  clearness  of  thought, 
souls  of  more  warmth  /than  penetration,  who  com 
pare  with  the  perfected  appearance  of  the  old  the 
imformed  and  incomplete  aspect  of  the  new ;  they 
turn  from  the  prose  which  they  see  everywhere 
around  them,  to  the  rich  forms  of  the  ancient  faith, 
and  wish  to  bring  them  back  for  themselves  and  the 
world." 

At  the  same  time  Julian  was  the  child  of  the 
Christian  era,  and  more  indebted  to,  and  more  pen 
etrated  with,  the  principles  to  which  he  was  opposed, 
than  he  knew,  or  would  acknowledge  ;  he  held  upon 
the  old  faith,  as  the  child  clings  to  the  breast  of  its 
nurse  after  it  has  ceased  to  receive  nourishment 
therefrom. 

He  then  who  had  the  sad  distinction  of  being  the 


PARTHENIA.  285 

first  to  bear  the  name  of  "  Apostate,"  he  who 
turned  his  face  to  the  past,  and  his  back  upon  ap 
proaching  ages,  the  grand  conservative  of  the  fourth 
century,  was  now  to  persecute  and  endeavor  to  de 
stroy  Christianity  in  the  city  where  it  received  its 
name. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  of  the  religious  sincerity 
of  Julian.  This  sincerity  of  faith  led  him  to  fanat 
icism,  and  from  fanaticism  to  persecution.  When 
a  person  has  committed  a  fault  which  is  irreparable, 
pride  makes  him  seek  a  shelter  even  in  the  fault 
itself.  Not  that  Julian  regarded  his  persecution  of 
the  Christians  in  the  light  of  a  fault,  but  he  was  too 
sagacious  not  to  see,  however  much  he  might  wrap 
himself  in  pride,  that  what  he  called  the  "  Galilean 
superstition"  was  what  its  Founder  had  said,  the 
grain  of  mustard-seed,  the  branches  of  whose  vig 
orous  growth  already  spread  as  a  shelter  to  the 
nations. 

The  Christians  were  now  the  educated,'  the  learned 
men ;  they  occupied  the  chairs  of  eloquence  and 
belles-lettres ;  they  were  everywhere  the  educators ' 
of  youth.  It  was  a  refined  and  subtle  cruelty  in 
Julian  to  forbid  them  to  teach  the  Greek  and  Latin 
authors ;  to  make  it  criminal  to  call  the  ingenuous 
youth  around  the  platform  of  their  eloquence.  By 
his  edict,  he  robbed,  ah !  how  many  Christian  fam- 


286  PAETHEN1A. 

ilies,  of  their  daily  bread,  and  he  added  a  cutting 
sarcasm  in  the  words  of  the  edict :  "  Does  not  your 
Founder  say,  '  Let  the  little  children  come  unto 
me  ? '  Cease  to  explain  the  heathen  writers,* if  you 
condemn  their  doctrines ;  or  if  you  do  explain 
them,  approve  what  they  say.  If  you  believe  that 
Homer  and  Hesiod  are  in  error,  go  and  explain 
Matthew  and  Luke  to  the  children  in  the  churches 
of  the  Galileans.'' 

The  most  oppressive  instrument  of  persecution 
was  the  law  which  obliged  Christians  to  make  full 
satisfaction  for  the  heathen  temples  destroyed  by 
their  order.  Too  poor  to  make  restitution,  they 
suffered  the  most  cruel  wrongs  from  the  Pagan 
magistrates  in  virtue  of  the  Roman  law,  which  de 
livered  the  person  of  the  insolvent  debtor  into  the 
power  of  the  creditor.  They  were  scourged  and 
imprisoned,  and  on  one  occasion  a  Christian  bishop 
was  anointed  with  honey  and  suspended  in  a  net 
between  heaven  and  earth,  exposed  to  the  stings  of 
insects  and  the  burning  rays  of  a  Syrian  sun. 


287 


CHAPTER    XXV. 

JULIAN  AND  THE  CHRISTIANS. 

JULIAN,  with  sincere  but  ostentatious  devotion, 
went  always  to  the  earliest  sacrifice.  At  the  rising 
of  the  sun  he  immolated  a  victim  to  Apollo,  his 
favorite  Divinity.  The  sun  was  for  Julian  the \ 
Logos,  the  Son  of  the  Father,  the  kindling  WORD  / 
which  gave  life  to  the  universe.  His  zeal  led  him 
to  slay  with  his  own  hand  the  snow-white  bullock, 
to  kindle  with  his  breath  the  fire  upon  the  altars, 
to  consult  the  entrails,  to  pour  the  incense,  to 
scatter  the  perfumes,  and  himself  collect  the  sacred 
ashes. 

As  the  Emperor  descended  on  foot  from  the  grove 
where  the  early  sacrifice  had  just  been  completed, 
he  overtook  two  men,  who  from  their  dress  he 
supposed  to  be  Christians.  The  Christians  indeed 
affected  no  singularity  of  dress ;  of  these  two,  their 
robes  were  spotless  and  their  heads  bare,  and  the 
earnestness  of  their  conversation  showed  that  it 


288  PAETHENIA. 

was  upon  a  subject  of  infinite  importance  to  them. 
Julian  could  not  repress  a  smile  of  derision.  "  These 
are  the  men,'*'  he  said  to  the  person  nearest  to  him, 
"  these  are  the  meek  and  abject  sectarians  who  ex 
pect  to  destroy  our  gorgeous  and  sublime  worship 
of  the  Gods."  Addressing  himself  to  them,  he 
asked,  "  What  mischief  are  you  Nazarenes  plotting 
at  this  moment? " 

"  Your  Majesty,"  answered  one  of  them,  "  will 
always  find  us  the  most  inoffensive  of  your  sub 
jects." 

Julian  was  anxious  to  find  some  other  fault  than 
their  religion,  of  which  to  accuse  the  Christians ; 
he  would  have  been  glad  if  they  had  organized  a 
rebellion ;  but  their  sins  were  those  of  omission. 

"  What,  then,  are  all  your  secret  meetings  for,  at 
the  dead  of  night,  if  you  are  not  forming  a  con 
spiracy  against  my  government  ?  " 

"  Sire,  not  so ;  each  one  of  us  is  living  in  the 
midst  of  his  family,  surrounded  by  the  ignorant 
whom  we  instruct,  and  by  children ;  giving  no 
offence  to  any." 

"  And  is  it  true  also,"  asked  the  Emperor,  "  that 
you  resent  no  injuries  ?  " 

"  Sire,  loving  our  neighbor  as  ourselves,  we  do 
not  strike  those  who  strike  us  ;  we  do  not  go  to  law 
with  those  who  despoil  us ;  if  we  receive  a  blow,  we 


PAETHENIA.  289 

turn  the  other  cheek ;  if  they  demand  our  cloak,  we 
offer  our  tunic  also." 

"  You  are  then  a  community  of  wolves  and 
sheep,  where  every  one  would  prefer  to  be  the 
wolf." 

"No,  Sire,  we  live  in  loving  communion ;  the 
children  receive  our  most  tender  care ;  we  honor 
aged  persons.  The  poor,  and  we  have  many  such, 
are  supported.  It  is  the  command  of  our  Master, 
that  those  who  possess  the  goods  of  this  world  shall 
help  those  who  do  not." 

"  Thus  you  cherish  a  hive  of  lazy  vagabonds." 

"  No,  Sire,  all  must  work  according  to  their 
strength.  And  as  we  regard  woman  as  completely 
the  equal  and  the  intelligent  companion  of  man, 
she  also  takes  her  part  in  the  cares  and  in  the 
counsels  of  our  community." 

"  You  banish,  as  I  hear,  all  the  arts  of  seduction, 
and  condemn  amusements ;  going  neither  to  the 
amphitheatre  nor  to  the  spectacles." 

"  Yes,  Sire,  we  renounce  your  bloody  amphithe 
atre,  and  endeavor  to  keep  our  youth  from  the 
spectacles  which  harden  the  heart  and  lead  to 
every  vice." 

The  Emperor  was  of  the  same  opinion  with  re 
gard  to  the  spectacles  and  amusements  of  the  city ; 
he  was  silent,  however,  and  one  of  the  men  ventured 

25* 


290  PARTHENIA. 

to  ask  him  if  the  edict  had  really  gone  forth  com 
manding  the  Christians  to  rebuild  the  heathen 
temples,  and  restore  all  confiscated  property ;  add 
ing,  that  it  would  reduce  their  community  to 
beggary. 

"  Why  not  ? "  asked  the  Emperor,  with  a  sneer. 
"Your  admirable  system  enjoins  you  to  renounce 
the  goods  of  this  world,  that  you  may  more  easily 
arrive  at  the  kingdom  of  heaven  ;  we  wish  to  facili 
tate  your  journey  by  easing  you  of  the  weight  of 
earthly  riches." 

"  Ah,  Sire  !  how  many  of  your  best  subjects  will 
you  reduce  to  abject  poverty  !  " 

"  Well,  is  it  not  the  vocation  of  a  Christian  to 
suffer  ?  But  learn  from  a  heathen,  that  riches  are 
not  the  greatest  good.  If  I  could  render  every  in 
dividual  of  your  sect  richer  than  Midas,  I  should 
esteem  myself  no  friend  to  him,  unless  I  could 
reclaim  him  from  his  impious  revolt  against  the 
immortal  Gods." 

The  Christian  made  the  sign  of  the  cross,  and 
said,  "  Sire !  commanding,  as  you  do,  all  the  re 
sources  of  the  Empire,  you  can  adapt  your  promises 
and  rewards  to  every  order  of  Christians ;  but  we 
trust  that  your  bribes  will  fall  powerless  before  the 
constancy  and  faith  of  our  brothers." 

"  See  the  gorgeous  trappings  of  your  bishops,  and 


PARTHENIA.  291 

how  they  contend  for  the  richest  seats,  and  for  the 
material  goods  of  the  world.  Then  your  Christian 
quarrels  have  convulsed  every  city  and  every  village 
where  they  have  entered ;  you  Christians,  as  you 
call  yourselves,  are  more  cruel  to  each  other  than 
the  wild  beasts  are  to  men." 

"  Ah,  Sire,  the  heresies  which  have  divided  the 
Church  are  the  grief  of  every  Christian." 

"  The  expenses  of  the  bishops  and  their  follow 
ers,"  said  Julian,  "  as  they  travel  at  the  public 
cost,  from  council  to  council,  to  decide  upon  ar 
ticles  of  faith,  and  to  reconcile  the  quarrels  of  the 
disciples  of  your  crucified  man,  threaten  to  destroy 
the  kingdom." 

"  Sire !  every  institution,  divine  or  human,  which 
would  influence  multitudes,  must  invest  itself  with 
outward  splendor  —  " 

"  See  your  Paul  of  Antioch,"  interrupted  Julian, 
"  driving  to  the  Basilica  with  his  milk-white  mules 
and  golden  harness.  The  jewels  upon  his  sandals 
are  worth  a  province.  He,  the  follower  of  Him 
who  had  trod  barefoot  the  stony  paths  of  Juda3a ! 
See  the  perfumed  handkerchiefs  of  the  women  wav 
ing  him  into  the  pulpit,  and  their  delicate  hands 
clapping  and  applauding  his  tumid  sentences." 

"  Pardon  me,  Sire.  Look  again  at  the  noble 
Basil,  Bishop  of  Cesarea;  his  whole  fortune  is  given 


292  PARTHENIA. 

to  the  poor,  to  the  orphan,  the  blind.  See  his 
houses  for  the  sick,  the  stranger,  the  destitute ; 
they  form  a  town  of  themselves !  " 

"  Yes,  they  form  a  town  and  eat  up  the  country. 
Then  your  eternal  differences  upon  subjects  so  open 
to  ridicule,  that  they  furnish  comedies  to  the  the 
atres  of  our  Pagans." 

The  Christians  were  silent,  and,  as  Julian  said  no 
more,  one  of  them  ventured  at  length  to  say,  "  Ah, 
Sire,  we  are  willing  to  be  ridiculed,  could  we  be 
spared  those  cruel  exactions  and  fines  which  de 
stroy  our  community." 

"  Consider  them  as  a  part  of  your  coveted  martyr 
dom,"  said  Julian,  and  he  laughed  that  scornful 
laugh  which  so  distorted  his  features  that  even  his 
friends  found  it  hateful.  "Your  Galilean,"  said 
he,  "  came  to  bring  a  sword,  and  his  followers 
should  be  glad  to  feel  it." 


293 


CHAPTER     XXVI. 

DAPHNE. 

AT  five  miles  from  the  city  of  Antioch  was  the 
garden  of  Daphne,  one  of  the  most  enchanting 
places  in  the  classic  world.  It  was  ennobled  by 
fiction  and  poetry,  for  the  change  of  Daphne  into 
a  laurel  had  been  transported  from  the  delicious 
valley  of  Tempe  in  Thessaly  to  the  banks  of  the 
Orontes.  An  immense  grove  of  cypresses  and 
laurels  was  divided  into  luxurious  paths,  beneath 
whose  shade  the  rays  of  the  sun  could  scarcely  pen 
etrate.  Delicious  and  abundant  fountains  gushed 
out,  and  scattered  their  liquid  diamonds  in  showers. 
The  limpid  beauty  of  the  sky,  the  perfume  and 
enamel  of  flowers,  associated  with  the  fable  of  the 
ravished  Daphne,  united  to  make  this  one  of  the 
most  seductive  spots  in  all  the  Pagan  worship. 

Till  the  time  of  Gallus,  the  worshippers  of  Apollo 
resorted  to  this  grove  to  imitate  as  much  as  to 
worship  himf  Here  was  a  temple  in  honor  of  the 

25* 


294  PARTHENIA. 

God  celebrated  in  all  the  East  for  its  magnificence. 
It  was  supported  by  marble  columns  of  a  rare 
beauty  ;  gold  and  precious  stones  shone  with  profu 
sion  and  good  taste.  In  the  midst,  surrounded  by 
the  bending  forms  of  Diana  and  the  Muses,  stood 
the  statue  of  the  God,  formed  of  the  purest  marble, 
and  so  exquisitely  finished  that  it  was  compared 
with  the  Jupiter  of  Phidias.  The  youthful  God  of 
light  and  music  held  his  lyre  in  one  hand,  while 
from  a  cup  of  gold  he  seemed  to  pour  out  a  libation 
to  the  Earth,  as  though  he  sought  the  venerable 
mother  to  restore  the  lost  Daphne  to  his  arms. 

A  thousand  streams  of  the  purest  water  rendered 
this  enchanting  paradise  always  verdant.  Concealed 
harps  produced  mysterious  melodies,  and  from  every 
crushed  plant  arose  aromatic  odors.  This  peaceful 
retreat  was  consecrated  to  joy,  to  luxury,  and  love  ; 
but  amid  the  corruptions  of  Paganism,  purity  found 
no  place  where  Nature  had  been  so  liberal  of  her 
best  gifts,  and  a  man  of  grave  and  pure  character 
would  have  blushed  to  be  seen  there. 

It  was  the  feast  of  Apollo,  and  Julian,  eager  to 
celebrate  it  in  the  most  costly  and  magnificent 
manner,  hastened  to  Daphne,  dreaming  on  his  way 
of  the  solemn  pomp  of  his  victims,  adorned  with 
garlands ;  of  libations,  of  perfumes  and  incense,  of 
choruses  of  beautiful  children  clad  inVhite,  whose 


PABTHENIA.  295 

souls  should  be  as  pure  as  their  spotless  robes.  As 
he  drew  near,  he  was  appalled  at  the  silence  and 
solitude  of  the  grove.  He  entered  the  temple,  and 
found  there  neither  incense,  nor  offering,  nor  victim. 

As  Sovereign  Pontiff,  Julian  demanded  the  offer 
ings.  A  decrepit  old  priest  approached  with  a  lean 
goose  in  his  hand. 

"  Shameful!"  cried  the  Emperor,  in  violent  an 
ger  ;  "  is  this  all  that  so  great  a  city  offers  to  its 
tutelar  Divinity,  —  a  single  gray  goose,  —  and  not 
even  a  costly  bird,  when  each  tribe  should  have 
brought  an  ox  ? "  A  keen  sense  of  the  irony  of 
offering  a  goose  to  Apollo  soon  appeased  his  anger, 
as  it  found  vent  in  sarcasm. 

"  No  doubt,"  said  Julian,  "  the  cry  of  the  goose 
will  pass  for  the  poet's  song,  and  his  hiss  for  the 
inspiration  of  Apollo.  It  will  not  be  the  last  time, 
I  fear,  that  the  goose  will  represent  the  swan  of 
Apollo." 

"  The  oracle  has  been  dumb,"  said  the  old  priest, 
"  since  the  noble  Caesar  Gallus  ordered  the  bones  of 
the  Galilean  martyr  to  be  interred  under  the  altar 
of  Apollo." 

"  The  bones  of  Babylus  ?  "  cried  Julian,  stamping 
on  the  ground.  "  The  court  of  Apollo  may  well  be 
the  purgatory  of  the  Galilean  bishop. " 

In  the  mean  time  the  report  had  spread  that  the 


296  PAETHENIA. 

Emperor  had  gone  out  to  Daphne,  to  the  temple 
of  Apollo,  and  the  crowd  was  soon  augmented  by 
senators  and  courtiers,  mingling  with  the  lowest 
of  the  people,  who  usually  made  up  the  cortege  of 
Julian.  He  stood  upon  the  steps  of  the  altar. 

"  It  is  an  intolerable  scandal,"  he  said,  address 
ing  the  senators,  "  that  you  treat  the  Immortal  Gods 
with  such  contempt.  A  city,  with  a  territory  so 
vast,  and  at  a  time  when  the  Gods  have  dissipated 
the  darkness  of  Atheism,  allows  the  fete  of  the  God 
of  its  fathers  to  pass  without  offering  to  him  a  single 
bird,  when  every  tribe  should  have  sacrificed  an  ox 
at  least.  But  if  the  city  is  too  poor  for  this,  let 
them  unite  and  offer  a  single  bull.  When  you 
make  a  festival,  or  give  a  birthday  feast,  you  spend 
your  money  with  full  hands.  But  here  there  is  no 
sacrifice,  no  grateful  offering  in  the  name  of  the 
citizens,  to  its  benefactor.  You  permit  your  wives 
to  ruin  you  in  favor  of  the  vile  Galileans.  They 
love  the  impiety  of  these  miserable  wretches,  whom 
they  feed  at  your  expense.  You  set  your  wives  the 
example  of  despising  the  Gods,  and  dare  to  believe 
yourselves  innocent.  Who  among  you  does  not 
lavish  vast  sums  upon  his  birthday  or  that  of  his 
wife,  and  here  in  your  great  sanctuary  there  is  not 
a  drop  of  oil  for  the  lamp,  not  a  grain  of  incense 
for  the  altar!" 


PARTHENIA.  297 

The  Emperor  looked  round  and  saw  every  coun 
tenance  unmoved,  every  voice  silent,  and  he  felt  in 
the  bitterness  of  his  heart  how  vast  was  the  progress 
of  Christianity  in  Antioch,  and  how  indifferent  even 
the  Pagans  were  to  their  Gods. 

When  he  paused,  shouts  arose  of  "  Julian !  Ju 
lian  ! " 

"  Silence ! "  he  cried,  with  a  voice  of  thunder. 
"  Yile  mortals  that  you  are !  You  put  us  in  the 
place  of  the  Gods !  You  prostitute  to  us  the  in 
cense  which  you  steal  from  the  altars  !  It  is  the 
cursed  Galileans  who  have  caused  all  this.  But 
for  them  —  " 

"  Ah !  do  not  curse  them,"  cried  a  voice.  "  Sire  ! 
Curse  them  not,  they  are  the  best  of  your  subjects. 
Our  own  poor  would  perish  in  the  streets,  and  upon 
the  steps  of  our  temples,  if  Christian  women  did  not 
succor  them ;  if  young  virgins  among  the  Christians 
did  not  refresh  their  parched  lips,  and  with  pure 
gentle  touch  wipe  the  dews  of  death  from  their 
brows." 

"  Silence  !  "  cried  Julian,  exasperated  !  "  Are 
you  all  Galileans !  Are  you  all  infidels  !  Let  the 
martyr's  bones  be  scattered  to  the  winds !  Purify 
the  temple  from  the  defilement  of  a  Galilean  sep 
ulchre  !  See  that  the  flowers  and  the  incense  be 
again  restored!  I  will  myself  take  care  that  the 


298  PARTHENIA. 

altar  of  Apollo  shall  never  again  become  the  shrine 
of  a  lean  goose." 

The  report  spread  through  the  city,  with  won 
derful  rapidity,  that  the  Emperor  had  ordered  the 
bones  of  the  martyred  Bishop  to  be  disinterred  and 
cast  out  from  his  sepulchre  in  Daphne.  The  Chris 
tians  were  moved  to  the  very  depths  of  their  souls. 

"  The  Emperor  will  pass  this  way,"  said  Monica  to 
the  Christian  women  assembled  in  her  house  ;  "  let 
us  show  him  that  we  are  the  friends  of  the  martyr, 
and  steadfast  in  the  faith  he  so  much  hates." 

Parthenia's  Christian  belief  had  opened  a  gulf 
between  herself  and  Julian  ;  but  tender  and  faithful 
memories  of  the  past  prevented  her  from  wishing 
to  wound  or  insult  the  religion  which  did  indeed, 
from  her  present  point  of  view,  seem  to  her  a 
wretched  delusion.  She  was  silent,  therefore, 
when  Monica  proposed,  that,  as  the  Emperor  passed 
in  his  return  from  Daphne,  they  should  greet  him 
with  one  of  the  psalms  of  the  Christians. 

Parthenia  gave  no  assent,  and,  as  she  sat  there 
silent  in  her  unimpaired  beauty,  she  was  calm  from 
the  very  depth  and  fulness  of  her  emotions. 

At  length  shouts  were  heard,  and  Julian  drew 
near,  with  his  usual  cortege  of  the  idle  and  the 
vagabond  portion  of  a  great  and  luxurious  city. 


PARTHENIA.  299 

To  all  those  who  had  no  homes,  the  Emperor's 
appearance  in  the  streets  was  a  signal  to  start  and 
follow  in  the  train  of  a  prince,  who  loved  popular 
ity,  and  who  was  as  liberal  in  his  gifts  as  the  sun  in 
his  noontide  beams. 

As  Jvilian  drew  near  the  portico,  Monica  and  the 
young  women  of  the  church  who  met  at  her  house 
raised  their  shrill  voices  in  the  words  of  the  ninety- 
sixth  psalm :  "  For  all  the  Gods  of  the  nations  are 
idols,  but  the  Lord  made  the  heavens."  And  also 
the  words,  "  Let  God  arise,  and  let  his  enemies  be 
scattered." 

The  attention  of  Julian  was  arrested,  and  as  he 
looked  up  at  the  windows  of  the  house,  his  swarthy 
cheek  became  crimson  with  anger.  The  excited 
crowd  caught  the  words,  "  Let  God  arise,  and  let 
his  enemies  be  scattered."  The  Pagan  mob  became 
furious;  they  cried  out  to  stone  the  women,  to 
throw  them  to  the  beasts,  to  bring  fire  and  con 
sume  them  and  the  house.  Julian  alone  could 
restrain  them  from  instantly  executing  their  threats. 
With  the  aid  of  his  officers  he  dispersed  the  excited 
mob,  and  then  entered  the  house,  with  no  attendant 
except  the  captain  of  his  guards. 

Monica  had  thrown  off  her  veil,  and  stood  there 
in  the  presence  of  the  Emperor,  her  noble  Roman 
brow  pale,  but  with  a  majesty  he  had  scarcely  ever 


300  PAETHENIA. 

seen  in  woman.  She  saw  herself  joining  the  long 
procession  of  martyrs  for  the  faith  she  gloried  in 
avowing,  and  her  heart  leaped  within  her  for  joy  at 
the  prospect.  Torture  and  the  fagot  were  before 
her,  but  she  gave  fearlessly  the  order  to  the  women 
to  repeat  the  offensive  words  :  "  Let  the  enemies  of 
the  Lord  be  scattered." 

Julian,  pale  with  rage,  ordered  the  captain  of  the 
guard  to  strike  her  on  the  mouth.  The  officer 
shrank  back  from  the  majestic  countenance  of  the 
woman,  and  the  Emperor  became  conscious  that 
another  was  present.  His  eye  caught  the  pale 
countenance  of  Parthenia,  just  as  the  crimson  of 
shame  was  rushing  over  it  at  the  order  he  had 
given.  He  also  felt  how  unworthy  of  him  it  was, 
and  in  the  presence  of  this  noble  Athenian,  and, 
bowing  to  Monica,  he  turned  towards  her.  "  Beau 
tiful  Parthenia,"  he  said,  "  what  is  this  I  see,  and 
how  are  you  here,  in  the  midst  of  the  enemies  of 
Julian  ?  Is  it  madness,  or  demoniac  influence,  that 
brings  the  priestess  of  Pallas,  the  noble  Athenian 
virgin,  the  disciple  of  Plato,  in  contact  with  the 
ignorant  and  frantic  Galileans  ?  " 

"  Say  not  so,  noble  Prince,"  she  cried,  while  a 
tide  of  joy  rushed  to  her  heart  and  glowed  upon 
her  cheek.  "  It  is  not  madness,  or  if  you  call  it  so, 
it  is  more  precious  than  all  your  wisdom,  than  all 
your  philosophy." 


PARTHENIA.  301 

Julian's  astonishment  for  a  moment  kept  him 
silent.  Then,  turning  to  her  with  grief  in  his  voice, 
he  said  :  "  It  is  then  true  that  the  noble  Partheiiia 
has  joined  the  enemies  of  Julian,  the  calumniators 
of  her  Gods!" 

"  No,  Sire  !  Parthenia  can  never  belong  with  the 
enemies  of  the  Emperor." 

"  But  can  she  have  deserted  her  beloved  Athens, 
those  glorious  Grecian  skies,  the  blest  temple  of 
Pallas  Athena  ?  " 

"  Ah,  Sire,  it  is  a  woman's  destiny  to  follow  those 
with  whom  chance  or  fortune  connect  her  life.  And 
I  —  ah,  Sire  !  I  bless  the  day,  and  the  cause,  which 
brought  me  to  Antioch." 

"Do  not  say,  noble  friend,  that  you  have  con 
nected  your  fate  with  these  enemies  of  the  Empire, 
with  these  superstitious  and  abject  Galileans." 

"  Sire,  it  is  only  since  I  have  known  them  that  I 
have  begun  to  understand  the  meaning  and  the  pur 
pose  of  life.  In  the  temple  of  the  Goddess,  when  I 
went  there  to  pray  for  light,  all  was  dark  in  my 
soul,  as  in  the  books  of  our  philosophy.  But  now, 
trusting  in  the  love  and  wisdom  of  another,  I  have 
found  serene  and  joyful  hope." 

"  Who  has  Parthenia  found  so  wise,  so  faithful, 
^so  exalted  above  herself,  as  to  rely  upon  his  wisdom 
and  truth?" 

26 


302  PAETHENIA. 

"  All !  Prince,  do  you  ask  ?  Can  you  not  divine 
that  in  him  whom  the  Christians  call  their  Christ  I 
put  all  my  trust  ?  " 

Julian's  eyes  flashed  with  anger.  He  must  have 
surmised  the  change  in  the  Athenian  maiden ;  but 
this  bold  avowal  from  her  lips  excited  his  scorn. 
"  The  dead  man  !  "  he  cried,  "  the  son  of  the  car 
penter  !  the  crucified  malefactor  !  " 

Parthenia  turned  her  head  aside,  and  while  she 
made  the  sign  of  the  cross,  a  tear  started  to  her 
eye.  A  new  and  ardent  convert,  she  felt  her  heart 
throb  with  pain  and  grief. 

Julian  was  softened.  He  asked  gently,  "  Does 
this  new  faith  fill  the  aspirations  of  one  who  sat  at 
the  feet  of  Plato  ?  " 

"  Sire,  I  have  pure  joy  in  believing  in  the  Christ. 
But  no  woman  can  be  happy  while  seeing  her 
friends  deprived  of  all  resources,  cut  oif  from  their 
honorable  employments,  and  their  children  con 
demned  to  poverty." 

"  To  suffer  is  their  vocation,  and  poverty  is  their 
badge,"  said  Julian,  with  a  sneer  ;  "  but  you  must 
admit,  fair  Athenian,  that  I  have  not  been,  like  some 
of  my  predecessors,  a  persecutor  of  the  Christians." 

"  Scorn  is  a  heavier  burden  than  stripes,  and  con 
tempt  more  bitter  than  imprisonment.  The  loss  of 
honorable  employment,  and  of  the  confidence  of 


PARTHENIA.  303 

others,  is  an  affliction  to  a  refined  nature  more 
severe  than  death  itself." 

"  Stay,  fair  Athenian  !  Will  those  who  love  the 
wisdom  of  Matthew  the  publican,  and  listen  to  the 
oracle  of  Peter  the  fisherman,  will  they  condescend 
to  interpret  the  divine  Homer,  or  to  gather  the 
honey  from  the  lips  of  Plato  ?  " 

"  Sire,  was  not  your  own  childhood  fed  with 
Grecian  and  heathen  wisdom,  distilled  through 
Christian  lips  ?  " 

"Yes,  my  mother  was  a  Christian,  and  a  lover 
of  Homer  ;  but  this  is  far  from  the  purpose.  The 
Gods  themselves  command  me  to  punish  their 
enemies." 

"  Ah,  Sire  !  you  punish  the  best  of  your  subjects. 
You  compel  those  who  are  the  bone  and  sinew  of 
your  Empire  to  abandon  their  homes,  and  their 
children  are  given  up  to  poverty." 

"  I  only  facilitate  their  entrance  into  the  king 
dom  of  heaven,  where  they  affirm  that  a  rich  man 
cannot  enter." 

"  You  take  from  us  the  merit  of  our  good  deeds, 
and  will  not  even  allow  us  the  honor  of  martyr 
dom,"  said  Parthenia. 

"  0  Jupiter ! "  cried  Julian,  "  how  canst  thou 
allow  those  Grecian  lips  to  plead  the  cause  of  thy 
enemies  ?  " 


304  PARTHENIA. 

"The  Emperor  is  justly  incensed  at  the  insult 
offered  to  him  in  this  house ;  but  is  it  not  beneath 
the  imperial  Julian  to  punish  a  disrespect  aimed  at 
himself  alone  ?  " 

Monica,  who  had  scarcely  restrained  herself  from 
speaking,  now  burst  forth :  "  You  will  not  listen  ! 
God  has  closed  your  eyes  that  you  cannot  see,  and 
your  heart  that  you  cannot  understand." 

Julian  turned  somewhat  fiercely  to  her.  "  Wo 
man,"  he  said,  "  you  disobey  your  own  teachers, 
who  say  that  it  is  shame  for  a  woman  to  speak,  ex 
cept  to  her  own  husband  in  the  privacy  of  her  own 
apartment ;  for  that  I  honor  the  Christian  teachers. 
It  is  the  only  word  of  wisdom  which  has  fallen  from 
their  lips." 

"  Our  religion  alone,"  said  Monica,  undaunted 
by  Julian's  sneer,  "  has  given  woman  her  true 
position.  With  you  Romans,  and  even  with  the 
refined  Athenians,  we  were  domestic  slaves;  —  this 
was  not  enough  degradation  for  us,  and  you  have 
added  Asiatic  luxury  to  our  effeminacy,  to  sink 
us  still  lower.  Had  not  Christ,  with  tender  and 
beautiful  regard  for  woman,  raised  her  to  be  the 
equal  and  the  friend  of  man,  how  hopeless  had 
been  our  condition  !  " 

"  Now,  by  the  Immortal  Gods !  "  Julian  began. 
But  what  he  would  have  called  upon  the  Gods  to 


PARTHENIA.  305 

sanction  was  here  interrupted  by  the  entrance  of 
Olympia,  followed  by  both  her  children,  one  holding 
by  her  robe,  the  other,  who  had  failed  to  catch  the 
robe,  stumbling  at  every  step  —  for  he  had  just 
learned  to  walk  —  and  recovering  himself  to  keep 
up  with  the  other.  This  last  was  a  lovely  infant, 
clothed  only  with  a  little  low-necked  shirt,  one 
sleeve  of  which  had  fallen  off,  and  the  beautiful 
shoulder  and  breast  were  bare,  presenting  the  per 
fect  form  of  infant  beauty. 

Olympia  threw  herself  at  the  feet  of  Julian.  The 
bashful  emotion  flushed  her  fair  cheek  with  crimson, 
and  her  beautiful  arms,  bare  to  the  shoulder  in  her 
Greek  dress,  recalled  those  exquisite  statues  the 
Emperor  so  loved.  "  I  am  a  Greek,"  she  said,  "  a 
lover  of  the  Gods  of  my  country,  and  for  the  world 
I  would  not  despise  them,  or  join  with  others  in 
disobeying  the  Emperor ;  but  I  know  the  Christians, 
I  am  filled  with  proofs  of  their  goodness,  their 
nobleness,  their  generosity.  O  Sire !  do  not  take 
their  bread  from  them  !  Do  not  deprive  these  chil 
dren  and  others  like  them  of  their  fathers  !  Do  not 
imprison  them !  Ah,  Sire,  your  servants  are  cruel ! 
They  torture  and  destroy  your  best  subjects." 

Julian  was  dazzled  by  this  beautiful  apparition. 
It  has  been  often  said  that  beauty  could  not  move 
him.  The  excessive  activity  of  his  brain  and  its 

26* 


306  PARTHENIA. 

ever-busy  schemes  left  his  heart  slumbering  or 
insensible.  Many  women  knelt  to  him,  and  he 
always  granted  their  petitions ;  but  beauty  in  so 
exquisite  a  form  he  had  scarcely  ever  seen  ;  he  held 
out  his  arm  and  raised  her. 

"  Who  are  you,"  he  said,  "  and  how  is  it  that  a 
Greek,  and  a  lover  of  the  Gods,  is  with  those  who 
hate  both  ?  " 

At  these  questions  the  blood  mounted  and  crim 
soned  the  brow  of  Olympia,  not  because  of  the  Em 
peror,  but  from  the  presence  of  Monica.  Her  eyes 
filled  with  tears ;  but  turning  to  the  youngest  boy, 
she  took  him  in  her  arms,  and  said,  "  I  am  the 
mother  of  these  children,  and  I  love  these  Christians 
more  than  my  life  —  " 

"  Can  so  much  loveliness  ask  anything  of  them 
or  of  the  Emperor  that  cannot  be  granted?"  said 
Julian. 

"  0  Sire !  restore  them  to  their  homes  and  their 
possessions.  Grant  them  the  same  privileges  that 
you  do  your  other  subjects." 

"  That  they  may  turn  them  into  curses  against 
their  Emperor  ?  No,  fairest  Greek,  to  us  the  elo 
quence  and  the  arts  of  Greece  ;  to  them  let  us  leave 
their  ignorance  and  their  poverty." 

"  I  cannot  thus  distinguish,  Sire.  Love  is  my  re 
ligion.  Where  I  give  this,  I  would  give  all  other 


PARTHENIA.  307 

things  beside:  a  Grecian  woman's  heart  is  filled 
with  her  home  only." 

Monica  now  interposed :  "  Sire,  it  is  the  grief  of 
our  home,  that  this  siren  has  so  wound  herself  into 
the  heart  of  my  son  as  to  make  him  forget  his  duty 
to  me  and  to  the  Church."  » 

"  Is  she  not  his  wife,  and  is  not  that  her  place  ?  " 

"  Yes !  I  am  his  wife  before  all  the  Gods,  the 
Christian's  God  as  well  as  the  Gods  of  Olympus,  and 
they  would  divide  us  from  him  ;  his  children  and  his 
wife  they  would  tear  from  him,  and  send  him  to  a 
solitude  in  the  desert,  to  a  monkish  and  desolate 
life  of  fasting  and  mortification.  And  me,  —  ah, 
Sire !  dividing  us  they  would  kill  me !  "Without 
his  love,  away  from  him,  I  shall  die  !  "  And  she 
drew  her  veil  around  her  and  burst  into  an  agony  of 
weeping . 

"  And  these  are  your  Christian  hearts,  and  what 
you  call  your  Christian  duties,  —  to  tear  asunder 
the  sweetest  and  most  sacred  of  all  ties,  and  sacri 
fice  two  lives  to  the  Moloch  of  your  ascetic  and 
self-denying  religion  !  "  said  the  Emperor. 

"  Sire,  our  religion  condemns  the  ties  which  unite, 
which  connect  together  these  two  children ;  for  such 
they  are,"  said  Monica. 

"Ah,  yes!  your  Christian  superstition — for  I 
will  not  call  it  a  religion  —  demands  your  canting 


308  PARTHENIA. 

prayers,  your  whining  beggars,  your  goods  thrown  to 
vagrants  and  impostors  ;  and  then  to  drive  to  despair 
those  who  in  obeying  their  hearts  would  create  a 
paradise,  where  you  would  make  a  Tartarus !  " 

Parthenia,  who  had  remained  silently  attentive, 
merely  placing  her  arm  around  Olympia,  as  she 
drew  her  children  close  to  her  knees,  now  said: 
"  How  happy  would  it  be  could  they  look  upon  her 
as  one  of  those  domestic  Lares,  or  angels  rather, 
who  bring  love  and  gladness  to  every  family  !  —  for 
such  she  is." 

Monica  now  came  forward,  cutting  short  Parthe 
nia' s  remark,  and,  taking  both  the  children  in  her 
strong  arms,  signed  to  Olympia  to  follow.  The 
latter,  whose  temper  seemed  all  submission,  and 
whose  face  expressed  a  settled  sadness,  did  not 
hesitate;  she  only  pressed  her  lips  upon  the  arm 
of  Parthenia  as  she  withdrew  it,  and  followed  the 
matron. 

As  soon  as  they  were  gone,  the  Emperor  turned 
towards  Parthenia,  and  his  eye  softened  from  its 
flashing  and  scornful  brightness.  "  The  pure  ves 
tal,  the  priestess  of  Athena,  has  not  informed  me 
why  I  find  her  so  far  from  the  temple  of  her  love, 
and  from  the  matchless  sky  of  Athens,"  he  said. 

"A   daughter   must  follow  the   fortunes   of  her 


PARTHENIA.  309 

father ;  but,  Sire,  I  never  can  regret  that  weariness  of 
life  and  desire  of  change  brought  me  to  this  Syrian 
city;  for  here  I  have  found  that  pearl  of  infinite 
price,  for  which  I  would  willingly  exchange  all  else 
of  life." 

Julian's  lip  curled  with  a  scarcely  repressed  sneer. 

"  Ah,  my  lord,  I  am  a  woman  neither  learned  nor 
eloquent,  but  the  few  sublime  ideas  of  the  Christian 
faith,  the  grand  but  simple  truths  it  teaches,  cast  all 
our  Pagan  Deities,  with  their  low,  sensual  lives, 
into  the  shadow  of  death." 

"  Thus,  like  the  bee  of  Hymettus,  you  have  been 
able  to  extract  some  drops  of  honey  from  the  bitter 
est  herb  that  grows." 

"  And  your  own  Gods  are  broken  idols,  yielding 
no  support,"  said  Parthenia. 

Julian  was  silent,  and  a  cloud  gathered  upon  his 
brow. 

Parthenia  added  :  "  Let  me  entreat  the  Emperor 
in  behalf  of  these  Christians  who  have  so  offended. 
Clemency  is  most  noble  in  the  powerful,  and  to  par 
don  an  insult  is  greater  than  to  forgive  an  injury." 

"  Let  them  insult  their  prince  !  they  offer  a  great 
er  insult  to  the  laws.  Yet  the  Antiochians  call  me 
cruel.  'You  oblige  us,'  they  say, 4  to  obey  the  mag 
istrates  and  the  laws.'  How  cruel ! " 

"  Sire !  " 


310  PARTHENIA. 

"  Call  me  not  Sire,  nor  Lord !  I  cannot  endure 
these  flattering  titles." 

"  Those  who  applaud  you  in  the  temples  of  the 
Gods,  and  meet  you  in  the  theatre  with  shouts  and 
noise,  you  may  call  flatterers;  but  not  one  who, 
pleading  for  those  who  have  offended,  cannot  for- 
get-" 

"  Let  us  at  least  forget  these  Galileans  !  They 
are  not  worthy  of  the  eloquence  of  that  Athenian 
tongue,"  interposed  Julian. 

"  If  the  Emperor  forgets  them,  will  he  not  also 
forget  their  offence  ?  "  pleaded  Parthenia. 

"  After  all,  they  are  less  contemptible  than  those 
laughter-loving  Antiochians,  who  take  delight  only 
in  dancing-men,  dancing-women,  and  dancing-boys, 
and  despise  the  Emperor  because  he  also  does  not 
dance !" 

"  A  rational  life,  like  yours,  is  in  their  eyes  the 
worst  of  folly." 

"  I  do  not  reproach  the  Antiochians  for  being  in 
c  lying  and  in  wanton  dances  skilled ' ;  why  should 
they  reproach  the  rusticity  of  my  manners  ? " 

"  The  Antiochians  have  not  time  to  look  beneath 
the  very  outer  surface.  But  let  me  offer  the  Em 
peror  a  precept  from  one  of  the  books  he  despises  too 
much  to  search  for  himself,  — '  Cast  not  thy  pearls 
before  swine.' " 


PARTHENIA.  311 

Julian  laughed.  "  Ah !  I  have  been  much  my 
own  enemy.  I  came  to  this  free  city  uncombed 
and  bearded.  They  took  me  for  a  morose  old  man, 
when,  with  the  advantages  of  dress,  I  might  have 
passed  for  a  handsome  youth." 

Parthenia  smiled. 

"  Ah,  you  doubt!  They  blame  me  also,  because, 
like  the  changeful  chameleon,  I  cannot  be  all  things 
to  all  men.  They  think  it  strange  that,  in  a  city 
where  there  are  as  many  dancers  and  more  players 
than  there  are  citizens,  there  should  be  any  respect 
for  sovereigns,  or  anything  but  insult  for  the  laws. 
The  very  name  of  obedience,  either  to  the  Gods 
or  the  laws,  only  disgusts  them." 

Parthenia  could  only  show  her  interest  by  silent 
attention. 

"  They  cry,  how  cruel  and  unjust  to  require 
moderation  in  the  rich,  or  to  restrain  the  poor  from 
slander.  In  truth,  fair  Parthenia,  I  reproach  myself 
for  being  so  stupid  as  not  to  perceive  that,  to  please 
this  city,  I  must  revel  the  whole  year.  I  would 
fain  bring  a  little  order  into  the  city ;  but  to  de 
prive  them  of  the  power  of  saying  and  doing  what 
ever  they  please,  is  an  offence  against  liberty  of  the 
deepest  dye.  They  allow  their  wives  to  be  their 
own  rulers,  that  they  may  be  as  licentious  as  possi 
ble  ;  they  lay  no  restraint  upon  their  children,  lest 


312  PARTHENIA. 

they  also  should  be  enslaved,  and  when  they  ad 
vance  to  maturity  should  respect  their  elders  a 
little,  and  then  by  degrees  should  reverence  their 
prince,  and  thus  becoming  temperate,  just,  and  hon 
est,  should  be  corrupted  and  totally  ruined." 

Parthenia  could  only  smile  at  the  bitter  irony  of 
the  Emperor. 

"  I  hoped,  fair  Parthenia,  that  to  rule  with  mild 
ness  and  moderation  would  atone  for  my  want  of 
beauty.  But  since  the  length  of  my  beard,  my  dis 
like  to  the  theatres,  my  adherence  to  equity,  my 
earnest  endeavors  to  banrsh  extortion,  my  remit 
tance  of  a  fifth  of  what  they  used  to  pay  in  taxes, 
has  given  such  offence,  I  shall  hasten  to  leave  this 
fair  city." 

"You  do  not  know,  Sire,  how  many  of  your 
Christian  subjects  honor  and. reverence  those  very 
virtues  of  moderation  and  equity." 

Julian  seemed  not  to  hear,  but  went  on :  "  If  I 
should  attempt  to  alter  my  conduct,  I  should  proba 
bly  exemplify  the  old  fable  of  the  kite.  The  kite,  it 
is  said,  had  a  voice  like  other  birds ;  but  being  ambi 
tious  to  neigh  like  a  high-bred  horse,  and  not  being- 
able  to  attain  this  accomplishment,  she  lost  the 
other.  I  am  afraid,  in  trying  to  be  polite,  I  should 
cease  to  be  rustic.  For  you  perceive,  fair  Parthe 
nia,  I  am  on  the  verge  of  that  age  when,  as  the 
Teian  poet  says, 


PARTHENIA.  313 

*  Gray  hairs  will  mingle  with  the  black/ 

Pardon  me,  fairest,  for  thus  intruding  my  griefs 
upon  you.  They  are  caused  by  the  ingratitude  of 
those  I  have  obliged,  and  are  therefore  the  effect  of 
my  own  folly.  This  will  teach  me  to  act  with  more 
discretion  in  the  future." 

The  Emperor  rose,  and,  abruptly  bowing,  left  the 
apartment. 


27 


314 


CHAPTER   XXVII. 

THE  HOSPITAL  FOR  STRANGERS. 

ANXIOUS  to  imitate  the  beneficent  institutions  of 
the  Christians,  and  oppose  Christianity  with  arms 
borrowed  from  itself,  the  Emperor  visited  the 
houses  of  relief  and  hospitals  founded  by  the  Bishop 
and  supported  by  Christian  men  and  women,  which, 
even  in  this  luxurious  Antioch,  surpassed  in  num 
ber  all  the  places  of  public  amusement  in  the 
city. 

In  order  to  preserve  a  strict  incognito,  the  Em 
peror  dismissed  his  guards,  and  divested  himself  of 
every  sign  of  royalty,  and  even  of  that  offensive 
beard  so  abhorred  by  the  Antiochians. 

The  hospital  for  strangers,  to  which  he  first  di 
rected  his  steps,  was  a  city  of  itself, —  a  city  of 
sorrow  within  a  city  of  luxury  and  pleasure.  Here 
found  shelter  that  suffering  humanity  which  had 
been  cast  out  from  the  dwellings  of  the  happy. 
Here  angelic  Pity  opened  her  arms  to  succor  tho 


PARTHENIA.  815 

broken-hearted,  collected  from  every  part  of  the 
world.  The  sick,  the  lame,  the  blind,  the  wounded, 
the  sore  in  body  or  in  mind,  found  refuge,  pity,  and 
healing;  or,  if  past  cure,  the  kindly  bosom  of  Mother 
Earth  closed  over  their  griefs,  with  prayer  and  bene 
diction  from  angelic  tongues.  It  was  only  neces 
sary  to  pronounce  the  word  stranger,  and  here  they 
were  at  home. 

The  Emperor  saw  in  the  court  the  light  carriage 
of  Parthenia,  with  its  beautiful  Thessalian  horses ; 
for  since  she  became  a  Christian  she  had  given  free 
dom  to  the  Syrian  slaves  who  formerly  bore  her 
litter. 

Although,  in  order  to  preserve  his  incognito, 
the  Emperor  had  divested  himself  of  every  sign  of 
royalty,  yet,  after  going  through  the  male  divisions 
of  the  hospital,  he  was  obliged  to  show  the  imperial 
order  to  gain  admittance  to  the  female  wards.  As 
he  entered  one  of  the  well-ventilated  and  beautifully 
clean  apartments,  where  on  low  pallets  lay  the  vic 
tims  of  their  own  vices,  or  of  the  irreparable  guilt 
of  others,  he  saw  Christian  women  at  every  pillow, 
and  among  them  he  recognized  the  stately  form  of 
Monica  and  the  pure  spiritual  brow  of  Parthenia. 

As  lie  approached,  Parthenia  knew  the  Emperor ; 
but  he  placed  his  finger  on  his  lips,  and  she  under 
stood  that  he  wished  to  remain  unrecognized.  In 


316  PABTHENIA. 

her  simple  Greek  tunic  of  white  wool,  she  was 
kneeling  beside  a  young  girl  who  seemed  scarcely 
past  the  age  of  childhood.  The  spotlessly  fair  skin, 
the  heavenly  azure  of  the  half-opened  eyes,  and  the 
pale  golden  tresses  of  hair  which  fell  down  upon 
her  breast,  showed  that  she  was  a  child  of  the  North, 
perhaps  from  that  far-off  island  of  Britain,  from 
which,  in  an  earlier  period  of  Rome,  those  who 
came  were  called  angels. 

Parthenia  was  drying,  by  the  tender  touch  of 
her  soft  hands,  the  dews  of  death  from  her  brow, 
when  'the  young  girl  opened  her  eyes  as  from 
slumber,  and  said  in  a  tongue  which  Julian  under 
stood,  for  he  had  often  heard  it  in  his  beloved 
Lutetia,  "Are  you  my  mother?  —  Ah,  no!  I  only 
dreamed."  This  was  said  in  a  tone  so  wrung  with 
sorrow,  that  tears  started  to  the  eyes  of  Parthenia. 

"I  dreamed  that  I  was  in  my  home,  the  cabin  by 
the  river,  and  that  I  gathered  the  cool  oak-leaves 
for  garlands,  and  that  my  mother  held  me,  as  the 
Roman  soldier  tore  me  from  her  arms.  Ah,  you 
are  not  my  mother,  but  you  are  an  angel  come  to 
tell  me  that  the  dear  Lord  will  receive  me,  and  that 
God  will  forgive  me."  She  said  this  in  a  dialect 
unknown  to  Parthenia;  but  the  intuition  of  her 
heart  told  her  that  this  victim  of  the  wrong  of 
others  needed  only  the  assurance  of  pardon  to  close 


PARTHENIA.  317 

her  eyes  upon  a  world  where  she  had  been  one  of 
those  little  ones  of  whom  Jesus  said,  "  Woe  unto 
those  who  offend  them,  for  their  angels  do  always 
behold  the  face  of  their  Father  in  heaven." 

Parthenia  whispered  in  her  ear  words  of  comfort 
and  of  prayer.  The  young  girl  looked  at  her  per 
plexed,  with  wistful  expression ;  the  beautiful  Greek 
tongue  of  her  comforter  was  wholly  unintelligi 
ble.  Julian's  quick  perceptions  found  the  remedy. 
Kneeling  by  Parthenia,  he  translated  her  whispered 
prayer  into  the  ear  of  the  dying  girl.  As  he  rose, 
he  looked  for  an  instant  at  the  beautiful  Greek. 
"Ah!"  he  thought,  "  could  those  cool,  soft  hands 
be  laid  for  one  moment  upon  my  throbbing  brain, 
would  they  not  check  its  schemes,  —  would  they 
not  press  the  brain  itself,  which  too  much  thought 
expands,  back  into  its  quiet,  peaceful  channel,  and 
leave  me  leisure  for  that  cloistered  life,  which  was 
my  choice,  before  power  and  ambition  laid  their 
commands  upon  me  ?  " 

As  he  turned  to  go,  he  said:  "  Your  port  here  is 
open  to  all  who  are  wrecked  of  fortune ;  you  harbor 
good  and  bad,  whatever  may  be  their  crimes.  Do 
you  not  offer  a  reward  to  the  wicked  ?  " 

"  Sire,  it  is  sufficient  that  they  are  wretched.  If 
we  asked  after  their  merits,  I  fear  we  should  find 
few  worthy." 

27* 


318  PABTHENIA. 

"All,  these  are  the  fruits  of  our  civilization. 
Look  at  our  gorgeous  and  senseless  lives,  and 
then  look  here :  one  follows  the  other  as  the  har 
vest  follows  the  sower." 

"  Christianity  is  to  bring  a  remedy  for  all  these 
ills,"  said  the  Athenian;  for  thus  enthusiastic  souls 
believed  in  that  early  age  of  our  religion,  while  ive 
find  the  remedy  as  far  off  as  ever.  "  Its  bounty  is 
like  that  of  God,"  she  continued.  "It  sheds  its 
light  and  its  dew  upon  all  alike.  Those  who  have 
lost  all  but  life  come  here.  We  ask  nothing,  we 
refuse  none." 

"  And  thus  you  win  all,"  said  Julian,  bitterly, 
as  he  left  the  hospital. 

"Ah!"  thought  the  Emperor,  as  he  returned  to 
his  palace,  "it  is  not  their  ostentatious  simulation 
of  humble  virtues,  and  the  absence  of  luxury  and 
ornament  in  their  dress,  of  which  even  some  of  their 
women  are  vain, — it  is  not  these  things  that  thin 
our  ranks, — these  are  not  our  enemies  !  It  is  their 
hospitals,  their  tenderness  to  the  poor,  their  hu 
manity  to  strangers,  their  bounties  poured  out  like 
water !  Ah,  they  have  learned  the  secret." 

He  was  interrupted  at  the  entrance  of  his  palace 
by  one  of  his  priests,  who  came  to  tell  him  that 
Daphne  was  purified,  the  bones  of  the  martyr  scat- 


PAETHENIA.  319 

tered,  and  the  worship  in  the  temple  restored  to  its 
original  magnificence. 

"  All  this  is  of  no  avail,"  said  Julian,  "  while  we 
leave  these  Galileans,  these  impious  Galileans,  to 
take  care  of  our  poor,  to  build  hospitals  for  those 
who  should  not  be  strangers  to  us.  We  leave  the 
poor  and  the  stranger  cast  out  into  absolute  want." 
And  quoting  his  favorite  Homer,  he  added, 

"  By  Jove,  the  stranger  and  the  poor  are  sent, 
And  what  to  these  we  give,  to  Jove  is  lent." 

"  Ah,  Sire !  he  sends  double,  ah,  treble,  the  num 
ber  of  rascals,"  said  the  priest. 

"  We  style  Jupiter  the  Hospitable,  and  we  are  our 
selves  more  inhospitable  than  the  Scythians.  These 
houses  for  strangers,  built  by  the  impious,  put  us  to 
shame."  And  the  Emperor  again  repeated  from  his 
favorite  Homer,  "  We  lend  to  Jove  what  we  give  to 
strangers." 

"  Pardon  me,  your  Highness,  Jove's  poor  are  not 
so  numerous  as  Mercury's  thieves." 

"The  Gods  are  called  by  us  the  'household  Gods,' 
and  Jupiter  is  the  '  domestic  Deity,'  but  we  treat 
our  relations  among  the  Gods  worse  even  than 
strangers.  But,  leaving  these,  explain  to  your  col 
leagues  what  they  ought  to  be,  in  order  to  serve 
the  Gods  truly ;  for  Jupiter  is  as  much  pleased  with 
the  pure  thoughts  of  religious  men,  as  he  is  with 
the  purity  of  Olympus." 


320  PARTHENIA. 

All  incredulous  smile  just  flitted  across  the  face 
of  the  priest. 

"It  is  an  easy  thing  to  abstain  from  shameful 
actions.  Let  them  avoid  all  licentious  jests  and  all 
immoral  discourse." 

"  Ah,  Sire,  we  must  then  stop  their  ears  and  clip 
their  tongues." 

"  All  studies  are  not  proper  for  a  priest.  Let  all 
those  fictions  which  are  composed  in  the  form  of 
love-tales  be  wholly  abstained  from,  and  serious 
studies  pursued." 

"  You  would  not  have  us  imitate  your  Majesty, 
and  covet  the  reputation  of  universal  erudition  ?  " 

"  Bad  thoughts  as  well  as  bad  books  should  bo 
avoided ;  for  the  guilt  of  the  mind  and  that  of 
the  tongue  are,  in  my  opinion,  of  an  equal  dye," 
said  Julian ;  "  but  the  thoughts  should  in  the  first 
place  be  guarded." 

Notwithstanding  the  reverence  of  the  priest  for 
the  Emperor  rather  than  for  the  priesthood,  he 
stood  uneasily  under  this  homily. 

"  The  hymns  of  the  Gods  should  be  learned," 
continued  the  Emperor.  "  They  are  many  and 
beautiful,  and  should  be  sung  in  the  temples." 

"  But,  Sire,  Apollo  has  not  showered  his  gift  of 
music  upon  all.  The  croaking  of  frogs  would  be 
less  hideous  than  the  voices  of  some  of  our  priests." 


PARTHENIA.  321 

"  Let  those  who  cannot  sing  address  the  Gods  in 
prayer,  three  times  a  day,  or  at  least  at  the  dawn 
and  in  the  evening.'' 

"  Sire,  can  we  find  a  priest  who,  since  the  siege 
of  Troy,  has  risen  before  the  dawn  ?  " 

"  Let  them  follow  the  example  of  the  Emperor, 
who,  before  the  dawn  has  flushed  with  crimson  the 
loftiest  of  these  hill-tops,  has  written  countless  de 
spatches  and  sent  his  messages  upon  the  wings  of 
the  wind." 

"  Who  can  ever  hope  to  imitate  the  Emperor, 
even  in  those  minor  virtues  of  industry  and  punc 
tuality  ?  " 

"  Better  imitate  him  in  what  the  refined  Anti- 
ochians  call  his  savage  rusticity.  Because  he  does 
not  send  to  summer  climes  for  roses  to  adorn  his 
winter  palace,  they  call  him  a  savage  ;  and  because 
he  leads  a  life  of  rigid  self-denial,  they  call  him  a 
brute." 

"  Hard  indeed  would  it  be  to  imitate  the  ascetic 
life  of  the  Emperor.  Even  the  Galileans  indulge 
themselves  with  the  solace  of  wife  and  children," 
said  the  priest. 

A  smile  of  contempt  curled  the  Emperor's  lip. 
"  What  business  have  priests  with  children  ?  You 
should  live  in  celibacy,  like  the  anchorites  and 
hermits.  I  tell  you  again,  it  is  not  sufficient  for 


322  PARTHENIA. 

priests  to  be  blameless.  If  you  would  stand  against 
this  blasphemous  impiety,  you  must  excel  all  others 
in  piety  and  in  good  works.  Are  the  Christians 
ever  seen  in  the  theatres,  or  drinking  in  taverns  ?  " 

"They  do  indeed  preserve  an  outward  ostenta 
tion  of  goodness ;  but  in  secret,  Sire,  if  we  listen  to 
report,  we  know  not  the  crimes  they  commit." 

"  No,  we  do  not  indeed,"  said  the  Emperor ; 
"  but  the  Gods  of  Olympus,  or  the  Infernal  Deities, 
will  furnish  some  cause  against  them." 

It  was  not  many  days  before  an  opportunity  was 
presented  anew  for  punishing  and  persecuting  the 
Christians. 


323 


CHAPTER    XXVIII. 

THE  HERMITS. 

A  LOFTY  chain  of  precipitous  heights,  crowned  by 
perpetual  verdure,  except  where  broken  by  rocky 
precipices,  down  which  poured  mountain  streams, 
rose  on  one  side  of  the  city  of  Antioch.  These 
heights  were  adorned  by  a  luxuriant  vegetation  of 
the  vine,  the  fig,  the  myrtle,  and  the  laurel,  beside 
the  loftier  growth  of  the  oak  and  the  sycamore. 

These  solitary  hills  opened  secluded  retreats  and 
quiet  solitudes,  where  those  hermits  and  anchorites 
who  had  fled  from  the  violence  and  sin  of  the  world 
passed  their  days  in  prayer,  meditation,  and  fasting. 
These  were  the  men  who  were  afterwards  formed 
into  religious  communities,  and  subjected  to  the 
strict  rules  of  their  order.  But  at  this  time  these 
solitaries  consisted  principally  of  men  of  education 
and  refinement,  who,  under  mistaken  ideas  of  the 
duties  of  Christianity,  fled  from  the  world,  in  order 
to  live  a  peaceful  and  passionless  life,  ascetic  indeed 


324  PAETHENIA. 

and  stern,  but  often  elevated  and  spiritual.  There 
were  also  many  gentle  and  devout  spirits,  who  in 
times  of  so  much  violence  could  find  no  shelter  so 
peaceful  as  these  natural  solitudes ;  so  secluded  and 
sd  beautiful,  "  that  they  were  in  danger,"  as  said  St. 
Basil,  "of  forgetting  all  duty  and  real  self-sacrifice 
in  the  midst  of  a  luxuriant  nature,  blossoming  flow 
ers,  and  singing  birds." 

The  stars  had  not  yet  faded  from  the  sky,  but 
one  by  one,  as  they  dropped  beneath  the  sheltering 
hills  of  Antioch,  they  left  upon  them  a  deeper  flush 
of  the  rising  day.  The  solemn  silence  and  solitude 
of  the  dawn  were  unbroken,  but  as  objects  became 
more  distinct,  a  young  man  was  seen  issuing  from 
one  of  those  recesses  in  the  hills  that  we  have 
spoken  of.  He  wore  .the  usual  dress  of  a  hermit, 
a  single  garment  or  tunic,  confined  at  the  waist  by 
a  cord,  sandals,  and  a  wide-brimmed  hat,  as  a  shel 
ter  from  sun  and  rain.  This  young  man  was  slen 
der  and  pale,  as  though  inward  passion  or  enthu 
siasm  had  consumed  the  outward  bloom,  and  the 
pallor  was  made  more  striking  by  the  short,  silky 
beard,  black  as  ink,  which  shaded  his  lip  and  cheek. 

As  the  mists  of  the  valley  ascended,  and  were 
colored  by  the  rising  sun,  he  stood  an  instant  look 
ing  at  earth  and  sky,  and  then  towards  the  city, 
whose  silence  was  still  unbroken  by  the  toil  and 


PARTHENIA.  325 

tumult  of  labor,  or  of  pleasure.  A  moment  seemed 
to  have  passed  in  silent  prayer,  when  he  started  with 
hurried  steps  towards  the  great  high-road  which 
led  to  Antioch.  This  was  the  young  Theodoras, 
whom  we  met  in  the  temple  of  Pallas  Athena  in 
Athens.  Could  we  have  directed  our  vision  to 
other  points,  we  should  have  seen  the  Christian 
recluses  everywhere  issuing  from  their  retreats,  and 
hastening  towards  the  city.  They  had  been  sum 
moned  by  the  Bishop  to  assemble  as  for  some  great 
event ;  and  as  one  after  another  they  emerged  upon 
the  great  thoroughfare,  that  broad,  paved,  and 
shaded  avenue  leading  to  the  city,  they  presented 
a  dark  body  of  enthusiasts,  with  bearded  faces,  pale 
and  emaciated,  where  all  the  vitality  seemed  cen 
tred  in  dreamy  or  flashing  eyes. 

As  the  young  Theodoras  met  a  gray-bearded  re 
cluse,  he  asked,  what  was  the  object  of  this  early 
summons  from  the  Bishop. 

"Where  have  you  been  dreaming,"  asked  the 
other,  "  not  to  have  learned  that  the  bones  of  the 
martyr  have  been  cast  out  by  the  impious,  and 
collected  by  order  of  the  Bishop  for  reinterment  by 
the  faithful?" 

"  Every  new  demonstration  of  the  Christians 
will  only  rekindle  the  anger  and  the  zeal  of  the 
Emperor." 

28 


326  PARTHENIA. 

"  He  cannot  rekindle  the  cold  ashes  of  a  faith  in 
which  every  spark  is  nearly  extinct.  He  bears  him 
self  the  whole  weight  of  the  heathen  sacrifice." 

"  Yes,  it  is  a  fine  spectacle  to  see  the  Emperor 
of  the  world  split  and  lay  the  wood  ;  with  his  own 
right  hand  slay  the  victim ;  then  blow  the  fire  with 
cheeks  all  distended  in  the  presence  of  a  few  old 
women,  who,  if  he  did  not  reward  them  with  an 
alms,  would  only  laugh  at  him." 

"  And  to  see  the  little  man  at  the  fetes  of  Venus, 
marching  between  two  ranks  of  her  votaries,  trying 
by  rising  upon  his  toes  with  long  strides  to  make 
himself  a  giant,  his  shoulders  raised,  his  beard  point 
ed  outwards  —  " 

"  He  who  is  himself  so  strictly  chaste !  Ah,  how 
far  will  fanaticism  carry  a  really  wise  prince !  " 

"He  will  soon  pass  from  fanaticism  to  severer 
persecution,"  said  the  other ;  "  but  would  to  God 
that  the  Church  could  be  roused  from  its  lethargy 
by  persecution! " 

The  recluses  now  arrived  at  the  gate  of  the  city. 
Passing  through  the  streets,  they  found  the  houses 
occupied  by  Christians  hung,  from  roof  to  pave 
ment,  with  black  drapery,  and  all  appearance  of  life 
and  festivity  removed.  The  square,  where  stood 
the  magnificent  octagon  church,  although  so  early, 
was  full  of  people,  and  they  perceived  that  prepara- 


PARTHENIA.  327 

tions  were  making  for  a  great  celebration,  which, 
instead  of  the  usual  festivity,  wore  all  the  attributes 
of  mourning.  "With  this  aspect  of  grief,  the  glori 
ous  Syrian  sky  which  rested  upon  the  hills  around 
the  city  offered  no  sympathy.  The  vaulted  cupola 
of  the  church  was  embraced  by  the  blue  vault  above 
it,  as  though  there  could  be  only  love  and  joy  upon 
the  whole  earth. 

Although  hosannas  and  hymns  were  sung,  no 
joy  appeared  in  the  countenances  of  those  who 
formed  the  procession  beneath.  This  was  headed 
by  a  large  silver  cross,  borne  by  three  persons,  and 
followed  by  the  Bishop,  and  by  the  priests  and  dea 
cons  in  mourning  robes.  Immediately  after  them 
came  the  lofty  car  upon  which  rested  the  bones 
of  Babylus.  This  was  followed  by  the  Christians, 
matrons  and  virgins,  in  mourning  robes,  and  veiled. 
Then  came  boys  bearing  incense,  and  the  pupils 
of  the  Christian  schools,  all  clad  in  spotless  white. 
After  these  children,  the  fairest  portion  of  the  pa 
geant,  came  the  melancholy  train,  the  banners  of 
the  martyrs,  a  countless  multitude,  bearing  upon 
a  black  ground  the  names  of  those  who  had  suf 
fered,  and  the  instruments  of  torture  and  of  death 
through  which  these  constant  souls  had  opened  to 
them  the  agonizing  but  glorious  passage  to  the 
presence  of  their  Master. 


328  PARTHENIA. 

As  this  part  of  the  procession  came  in  sight,  all 
the  Christians  among  the  immense  throng  fell  upon 
their  knees  and  uttered  groans  and  cries.  A  spec 
tator  would  have  thought  that  the  whole  pleasure- 
loving  city  of  Antioch  had  turned  from  amusement 
to  follow  the  melancholy  canonization  of  a  martyred 
Christian. 

As  they  entered  the  magnificent  church,  hung 
with  pictures  and  blazing  with  precious  stones, 
every  voice  joined  in  chanting  the  Psalms.  "All 
the  Gods  of  the  nations  are  idols."  "  Say  among 
the  heathen,  that  the  Lord  reigneth."  The  organ 
was  not  yet  introduced  into  churches,  but  this  im 
mense  choir  of  human  voices,  taught  as  they  were 
with  infinite  expense  and  pains  to  join  harmonious 
ly  in  singing  praises  to  God,  filled  the  immense 
building,  and  the  echoes  of  ten  thousand  voices 
vibrated  to  the  ears  of  the  Emperor  in  his  palace. 

Darkness  had  descended  ere  the  church  was  again 
empty,  and  the  interment  of  the  bones  of  Babylus 
the  martyr  in  consecrated  ground  was  performed  by 
torch-light;  the  reflection  of  this  multitude  of  torches 
enlightened  half  the  autumn  sky  of  Antioch. 

The  Emperor  was  in  an  upper  room  of  his  palace, 
occupied,  as  usual,  through  the  night,  with  his  sec 
retaries.  He  was  traversing  with  long  strides  the 


PARTHENIA.  329 

apartment,  dictating  with  almost  breathless  rapidity 
to  four  or  five  reporters,  in  as  many  different  lan 
guages,  letters  of  business,  or  friendship ;  orations, 
learned  dissertations,  essays ;  sending  directions  and 
orders  to  the  various  officers  of  the  government; 
hints  to  priests,  physicians,  musicians,  philosophers; 
for  there  was  no  art  or  department  of  science  into 
which  Julian  did  not  look.  These  rapid  dictations 
were  afterwards  prepared  by  their  respective  secre 
taries  for  Julian's  signature,  and  sent  on  by  cou 
riers  to  the  remote  ends  of  the  Empire,  almost  with 
the  rapidity  of  modern  times. 

It  was  past  midnight,  and  the  pressure  of  busi 
ness  seemed  scarcely  to  lessen,  when  Libanius,  with 
the  privilege  of  friendship  at  that  hour  of  the  night, 
was  announced  by  the  waiting  page. 

"  Do  I  intrude  on  confidential  business  ? "  he  asked. 

"  With  friends  there  are  no  secret  hours,"  said 
Julian,  embracing  him. 

Soon  he  drew  the  attention  of  the  Emperor  to  the 
occurrences  of  the  day  and  the  significance  of  this 
demonstration  of  the  Christians,  which  included  such 
numbers  that  the  whole  city  seemed  to  be  Christian. 

"  Bah !  "  said  Julian,  "  it  is  only  the  bent  of  this 
pleasure-loving  city  for  excitement.  If  I  were  to 
order  a  procession  of  apes  to-morrow,  the  whole  city 
would  turn  out  to  see  itt" 

28* 


330  PARTHENIA. 

Among  the  Emperor's  secretaries  there  was  more 
than  one  Christian,  and  he  signed  to  his  friend  to 
follow  him  out  upon  the  balcony.  The  exquisite 
Syrian  night,  with  a  cloudless  moon,  was  only  a 
paler  day,  — paler,  more  tender,  more  touching,  more 
balmy  sweet.  The  city  was  silent  now,  —  the  noise 
and  tumult  had  sunk  away  to  rest,  —  and  the  two 
friends  stood  silent  also,  looking  at  the  stars,  which 
the  full  moon  had  paled. 

"  Notwithstanding  these  cursed  Galileans,'7  said 
Julian,  resuming  the  conversation,  "  my  star  is  still 
in  the  asceridant." 

"  Pray  your  Majesty,  which  of  these  bright  plan 
ets  may  I  worship  as  your  star  ?  "  asked  his  friend. 

"  Ah,  you  can  scarcely  perceive  it  in  this  pale, 
serene  sky.  But,"  and  he  started,  "  do  you  not  see 
that  bright  and  glorious  star,  moving  so  rapidly 
along?" 

"By  the  Immortal  Gods  !  "  cried  his  friend,  "  that 
is  no  star,  —  no,  not  even  a  shooting  meteor! " 

"No,  Jupiter  forgive  me!"  cried  the  Emperor. 
"Ah,  what  demon  has  sent  that  ball  of  fire  ?  " 

As  they  both  gazed  in  consternation,  this  seeming 
ball  of  fire  descended  directly  upon  the  temple  of 
Apollo  in  Daphne.  Like  many  Grecian  temples,  it 
was  open  to  the  sky,  and  the  meteor  or  ball  of  ar 
tificial  fire  smote  the  noble  head  of  Apollo,  the 


PARTHENIA.  331 

statue  of  gold  and  ivory  supposed  to  be  the  work 
of  Praxiteles,  and  melted  the  exquisite  features  to 
burning  streams  of  metal.  Instantly  the  temple 
caught  fire,  and  the  beautiful  marble  pillars  placed 
there  by  Julian,  the  statues  of  the  Muses,  all  fell 
to  the  ground,  wrapped  in  one  sheet  of  flame. 

The  Emperor,  full  of  consternation ,  rushed  to  the 
temple ;  but  soon  he  perceived  that  nothing  could 
be  saved.  Precious  stones,  costly  pictures,  golden 
vessels,  the  Muses  attending  upon  the  God,  all  per 
ished  together.  The  laurels  and  palms  surrounding 
the  temple,  shrivelled  and  blackened,  stood  stripped 
of  their  shining  foliage,  like  mournful  ghosts,  weep 
ing  their  former  splendor. 

Julian  at  length  ordered  all  efforts  to  cease.  He 
stood  silent,  with  concentrated  anger  burning  in  his 
breast.  On  this  occasion  no  philosophy  came  to  his 
aid.  His  favorite  temple,  the  oracle  which  had 
foretold  his  greatness,  which  had  also  promised  him 
the  ascending  power  of  the  ancient  religion,  had 
fallen  powerless,  as  he  persisted  in  believing,  under 
the  incendiarism  of  the  detested  Galileans.  Julian, 
who  believed  in  magic,  and  in  Pagan  miracles, 
scorned  all  Christian  faith  in  supernatural  events, 
and  inwardly  resolved  to  punish  the  Christians  as 
the  authors  of  the  fire. 


332 


CHAPTER    XXIX. 

THE  ANGER  OF  THE  EMPEROR. 

SALLUST,  the  Prefect  of  the  city,  had  been  late  at 
night  with  the  Emperor,  but  had  left  him  before  the 
burning  of  the  temple.  The  stars  were  in  the  sky 
when  a  messenger  came  to  summon  the  Prefect 
again  to  the  presence  of  Julian. 

"  No,"  said  the  slave  who  was  sweeping  the  outer 
court  of  the  palace,  "  I  will  not  venture  to  disturb 
the  slumbers  of  his  highness.  It  is  not  my  office." 

"  Call  those  whose  office  it  is,"  said  the  other ; 
"  they  are  numerous  enough." 

"  And  get  a  beating  ?     No !  " 

"  I  will  go  myself,"  said  the  messenger.  "  The 
Emperor's  anger  rages.  I  do  not  fear  the  Prefect 
as  I  do  him  in  his  anger." 

As  his  servants  prepared  his  luxurious  bath,  the 
Prefect  could  but  curse  the  hardy  habits  of  the 
Emperor,  who  had  only  to  dash  into  the  Orontes,  as 
the  sea-breezo  came  sweeping  up  the  valley  of  the 


PARTHENIA.  333 

watercourse,  to  restore  all  the  waste  of  twenty-four 
hours  of  intense  labor.  The  Prefect,  on  the  con 
trary,  resorted  to  all  the  luxurious  appliances  of  an 
Eastern  bath,  and  the  innumerable  arts  invented  by 
the  effeminate  Antiochians,  to  restore  the  vigor  and 
the  beauty  of  the  wasted  body. 

The  Emperor  was  walking  his  apartment  with 
those  hasty  strides  habitual  to  him  when  disturbed. 
His  small  stature  and  violent  gestures,  notwith 
standing  his  noble  head  and  flashing  eyes,  gave  him 
the  appearance  of  a  dwarf  simulating  the  prowess  of 
a  giant.  Sallust  was  a  Pagan  of  a  mild  disposition, 
who  abhorred  blood  and  all  the  sights  and  sounds 
of  violence.  As  he  entered,  the  Emperor  paused  in 
his  rapid  walk,  and  turned  abruptly  to  the  Prefect. 

"  Give  orders,"  he  said,  "  that  every  Galilean  in 
this  city  be  bound  and  imprisoned,  till  we  can  de 
vise  further  measures." 

"  Sire,"  said  Sallust,  respectfully,  "  the  prisons  of 
your  whole  Empire,  from  Britain  to  the  deserts  of 
Arabia,  would  not  suffice  for  the  Christians  of  this 
city." 

"  Men,  women,  and  children,  every  one  of  them 
shall  be  punished,"  continued  the  Emperor. 

"  Will  you  act  over  again  the  part  of  Herod  ?  " 
asked  the  Prefect. 

"Ah!  that  tender  prince 'was  too  lenient.      He 


334  PARTHENIA. 

should  have  destroyed  one  more,  the  son  of  the 
carpenter,  and  the  world  would  have  had  peace." 

"  Sire,"  asked  Sallust,  "  are  you  convinced  that 
the  burning  of  the  temple  was  effected  by  the  Chris 
tians  ? " 

"  By  their  infernal  conjurations,  making  it  ap 
pear  the  work  of  accident,  or  of  lightning." 

"  Believe  me,  Sire,  you  cannot  grant  the  Chris 
tians  a  greater  joy  than  that  of  gaining  the  honors 
of  martyrdom." 

"  Every  second  man  among  them,"  said  the  Em 
peror,  "  shall  enjoy  that  glory." 

"  Pardon  me,  Sire ;  will  your  own  fame  gain  as 
much  by  this  order,  especially  with  posterity,  when 
the  cause  is  forgotten  ?  " 

"  You  see  the  fruit  of  my  clemency !  I  do  not 
punish  opinions,  but  deeds  like  that  of  last  night, 
burning  and  plundering  the  most  precious  temple 
of  our  worship.  Jupiter  and  all  the  Gods  depart 
from  me,  if  I  leave  their  enemies  unpunished  !  " 

Sallust  was  a  mild  Pagan,  a  hater  of  deeds  of 
violence  ;  he  ventured  to  suggest  to  the  Emperor, 
that  to  close  the  great  church  of  Antioch,  and  con 
demn  the  eloquent  preachers  to  silence,  would  be  a 
severe  punishment  to  the  Christians. 

"  And  to  the  whole  city,"  said  the  Emperor, 
"  who  push  to  hear  these  eloquent  declaimers ! " 


PAETHENIA.  335 

"  The  women,  Sire,  lead  the  fashion  here.  Even 
the  young  and  beautiful,  who  have  brought  offer 
ings  to  the  altars  of  Diana  and  Yenus  in  the 
morning,  go  thence  to  clap  and  applaud  the  Chris 
tian  preachers ! " 

"  Ah,  yes !  I  hear  that  they  kiss  the  hem  of  the 
robe,  the  hands,  and  even  the  lips,  that  they  call 
golden,  of  their  favorite  Chrysostom." 

"  The  Antiochian  ladies  claim  the  largest  liberty, 
Sire  ;  they  seduce  their  children  to  the  religion 
of  the  Galileans,  by  the  promise  and  the  charm  of 
pleasure." 

"  In  consequence,  they  renounce  all  subjection ; 
first  to  the  Gods,  secondly  to  the  laws,  and  lastly  to 
us,  the  guardian  of  the  laws." 

"  But,  Sire,  if  the  Gods  connive  at  this  licentious 
city,  and  take  no  vengeance  on  its  enemies,  should 
we  be  enraged  against  it?  " 

"  You  recall  me  to  my  duty,"  said  Julian.  "  Be 
cause  the  Gods  are  forbearing,  shall  not  I  punish 
their  enemies  ? " 

"  The  Christians  assert,"  said  Sallust,  "  that  the 
intercession  of  Babylus  pointed  the  lightning  against 
the  doomed  head  of  the  God.  A  more  probable 
solution  of  the  fire,  is,  that  the  philosopher,  Ascle- 
piades,  who  had  passed  some  hours  in  this  palace 
with  your  Highness,  on  his  return  placed  the 


336  PARTHENIA. 

small  image  of  Juno,  always,  as  you  know,  Sire, 
his  companion,  upon  the  steps  of  the  altar,  and, 
lighting  his  wax  tapers,  left-  them  to  the  stray 
breezes  of  the  night,  and  they,  more  devout  than 
the  philosopher,  kindled  —  " 

Julian  looked  keenly  at  the  Prefect,  and  com 
manded  silence  by  a  gesture,  which  was  obeyed. 
This  was  the  probable  solution  of  the  fire ;  but  it 
was  the  will  of  the  Emperor  to  attach  the  guilt  of 
the  incendiarism  to  the  Christians,  to  give  him  a 
pretence  for  more  severe  persecution. 

He  turned  again  to  the  Prefect :  "  Let  instant 
preparation  be  made  to  arrest  all  those  who  assist 
ed  at  that  absurd  procession  of  the  bones  of  Baby- 
lus." 

Sallust  bowed. 

"  Let  not  those  recluses  from  the  mountains 
escape.  Though  secret  and  noiseless,  their  part 
has  been  most  effective." 

"  Sire,  we  shall  endeavor  to  obey  you." 

"  Wring  from  them,  if  necessary,  the  confession 
of  the  fire,  by  the  question." 

"  Believe  me,  Sire,  torture  will  effect  nothing  in 
these  heroic  souls ;  they  will  rush  to  those  iron 
embraces  as  to  the  arms  of  a  mistress  !  " 

"  You  remind  me  that  there  are  certain  women 
among  their  number  more  effective  in  winning 


PARTHENIA.  337 

souls,  to  use  their  own  jargon,  than  all  their 
bishops.  Let  them  be  scourged." 

"  Sire  ! " 

"  Every  one  of  them  !  "  The  Emperor  paiised. 
"No,  there  is  one,  a  Grecian  muse  in  form ;  an 
angel,  if  we  had  angels,  in  the  expression  of  her 
face.  Her  I  would  have  exempted,  —  protected 
from  all  harm." 

"  The  fair  Parthenia  ?    Sire,  the  daughter  of—  " 

The  Emperor  placed  his  finger  on  his  lip  and 
bowed.  The  Prefect  knew  that  the  interview  was 
ended. 

As  Sallust  returned  with  his  guards  to  his  home, 
he  passed  the  house  of  Monica,  where  a  number  of 
Christians  were  collected  who  had  passed  the  night 
in  prayer,  and  in  strengthening  and  comforting  the 
weak  and  timid  among  them. 

Parthenia  stood  at  the  window  of  the  balcony, 
still  hung  with  black,  that  looked  out  upon  the 
great  square  of  the  church.  The  faintest  flush  of 
breaking  day  began  to  gild  the  dome,  when  she  was 
startled  by  a  rush  of  people,  with  officers  at  their 
head,  who  pushed  rapidly  past  the  steps,  and,  tear 
ing  away  the  locks  and  bars  of  the  doors,  began 
their  work  of  spoil  within  the  church.  The  golden 
vessels  and  candlesticks,  the  pictures  and  ornaments 
of  the  altar,  were  borne  forth,  and  last  the  statue  of 

29 


338  PARTHENIA. 

Christ,  which  had  held  the  holiest  place  above  the 
altar,  —  all  were  given  over  to  the  heathen.  There 
was  no  mob,  no  violence ;  all  was  done  in  order, 
under  the  direction  of  officers.  This  accomplished, 
the  doors  were  barred,  and  the  holy  place,  the  sanc 
tuary  of  the  Christians,  closed  against  its  worship 
pers.  Then  they  knew  that  it  was  the  Emperor,  and 
that  his  anger  was  deep,  and  his  vengeance  certain. 

Parthenia  was  thinking  of  the  time  when  Julian's 
influence  was  all-powerful  upon  her,  and  although  a 
mysterious  thread  of  destiny  seemed  to  connect  her 
in  some  degree  with  him,  she  believed  that  her 
faith  in  Christianity  could  not  now  be  impaired  by 
any  influence  which  he  had  held  over  her  mind  in 
those  happy  days  in  Athens. 

The  tender  memories  of  that  time  had  paled  her 
cheek,  and  an  aged  man  who  was  addressing  the 
company  of  Christians,  attributing  it  to  fear,  looked 
at  her  as  he  said :  "  What  have  we  to  fear  ?  Can  it 
be  death  ?  But  you  know  that  Christ  is  our  life,  and 
in  dying  we  shall  live  !  Is  it  exile  that  you  fear  ? 
The  earth,  in  all  its  extent,  is  the  Lord's,  and  you 
cannot  go  from  his  presence.  Can  it  be  the  loss  of 
riches  ?  We  brought  nothing  into  this  world,  and 
we  shall  carry  nothing  out  of  it.  All  the  evils  of 
this  world  are  contemptible  in  our  eyes  ;  we  laugh 


PARTHENIA.  339 

at  all  fears,  we  shun  no  poverty,  we  wish  for  no 
riches,  we  do  not  tremble  at  death." 

A  new  life  was  about  to  open  for  the  Church  in 
Antioch.  It  had  for  a  long  time  remained  in  peace 
in  this  effeminate  city,  and  had  become  lukewarm 
and  luxurious,  and  had  lost  its  original  stern  and 
heroic  virtues ;  but  there  were  many  in  this  room 
at  this  very  moment  who  rejoiced  in  the  prospect  of 
persecution,  and  were  ready  to  meet  martyrdom 
with  joy.  Monica  was  one  of  these,  and  she  longed 
to  exhort  the  others,  and  was  ready  herself  to  risk 
everything  for  the  cause. 

After  singing  a  hymn  together,  during  which 
tears  streamed  down  many  faces,  and  the  women 
sobbed  as  they  embraced  their  children,  they  agreed 
upon  a  secret  sign  by  which  they  would  know  each 
other  in  their  assumed  disguises.  After  this  a 
solemn  Covenant  was  taken,  in  which,  calm,  fer 
vent,  and  even  joyous,  they  devoted  themselves 
body  and  soul,  their  strength,  their  estates,  and 
their  life,  to  Christ  and  to  each  other. 

Parthenia  felt  an  intense  loneliness ;  she  had  no 
child,  no  sister  there  ;  her  father  was  estranged  from 
her  new  faith ;  and  these  late  formed  friendships 
with  the  disciples  of  her  new  religion  had  not  yet 
knit  together  with  her  those  sweet  and  intense  re 
lations  which  so  often  bound  Christians  to  each 


340  PAETHENIA. 

other  and  to  Christ.  Her  interview  with  Julian 
had  stirred  her  soul  to  its  utmost  depths.  Busy 
memory  went  back  to  Athens,  to  those  serene,  happy 
days  when  her  own  soul  reflected  the  transparent 
sky  of  Greece,  and  Julian  was  the  sun  in  whose 
light  and  warmth  she  lived.  The  memory  of  those 
golden  hours,  those  moments  marked  by  diamond 
sands,  had  driven  away  the  present.  The  cruel 
question  would  not  be  unheard,  "  Had  compensa 
tion  for  all  she  had  lost  come  with  her  new  faith  ? " 
She  started  and  her  knees  trembled  beneath  her. 
"  O  God ! "  she  sighed,  "  am  I  a  traitor  to  both,  — 
to  the  past  and  to  the  present  ?  0  Jesus,  help  me !  " 
It  was  well  that  a  new  interest  soon  drew  her  from 
herself. 


341 


CHAPTER    XXX. 

THEODORUS. 

THEODORUS,  the  recluse  of  the  mountain,  had  fol 
lowed  Parthenia  from  Athens  to  Antioch,  drawn 
by  that  irresistible  attraction,  carefully  concealed 
within  his  own  breast,  to  which  he  gave  no  name, 
which  expressed  itself  only  in  silent  and  distant 
adoration.  This  sentiment  of  adoration,  even  for  a 
human  being,  which  the  imagination  exalts  so  infi 
nitely  above  us,  mingled  with  a  devotion  of  soul 
which  brings  the  object  into  a  near  relation  to  the 
heart,  ennobles  and  purifies  the  youth  who  submits 
himself  to  its  influence.  Where  there  is  such  dis 
parity  as  between  Theodoras  and  the  Athenian  maid 
en,  there  can  be  no  fruition  of  joy ;  but  the  senti 
ment  itself  sanctifies  the  heart  it  has  entered,  and 
it  is  ever  regarded  in  future  days  as  the  period 
when  life  was  the  sweetest,  the  richest,  the  holiest, 
the  most  truly  lived. 

Theodoras  was  again  ascending  the  mountain, 

29* 


342  PARTHENIA. 

after  that  night  of  unparalleled  excitement,  with 
soul  uplifted,  so  that  he  was  only  a  few  steps  from 
heaven.  He  had  wings  at  his  heart,  wings  upon 
his  feet.  In  the  tumult  of  the  night,  in  the  min 
gling  of  the  processions  of  the  Christians,  he  had 
been  often  near  enough  to  exchange  a  few  words 
with  Parthenia ;  he  had  touched  her  hand,  he  had 
warned  her  of  a  false  step,  he  had  turned  aside  and 
received  himself  a  missile  thrown  very  near  her. 
She  was  aware  of  this  last  service,  and  smiled  upon 
him,  and  the  smile,  like  that  of  the  sun  in  later  ages, 
had  caleotyped  itself  upon  his  heart,  to  wear  out 
only  when  the  heart  itself  dissolved.  He  was  now 
returning  to  his  hermitage,  to  prayer  and  fasting, 
and  the  ascetic  life  to  which  the  enthusiasts  of 
that  age  devoted  themselves.  Parthenia  and  him 
self  had  become  converts  from  the  service  of  Pallas 
Athena;  they  had  been  catechumens  of  the  same 
class,  and  had  been  baptized  nearly  at  the  same 
time.  How  often  had  he  watched  that  spiritual 
profile  and  those  folded  hands,  as  she  knelt  at  the 
Christian  altar,  and,  in  the  innocent  purity  of  his 
young  soul,  his  prayers  had  fallen,  unconsciously, 
beneath  the  Supreme,  and  had  rested  upon  her. 

Theodorus  was  too  much  lost  in  sweet  meditations 
to  observe  that  he  was  followed,  till  the  stroke  of  a 
sword  was  laid  upon  his  shoulder.  He  turned  and 


PARTHENIA.  343 

beheld  the  guard  of  the  Prefect.  They  had  chains 
which  were  fastened  upon  his  wrists,  and  he  was 
driven  hack  to  one  of  the  prisons,  already  crowd 
ed  with  Christians.  Julian's  anger  burnt  fiercely. 
The  prisons  were  crowded,  and  he,  the  philosophic 
and  lenient  prince,  had  given  orders  that  confes 
sion  of  the  incendiarism  should  be  drawn  forth  by 
torture. 

As  Theodoras  passed  through  the  courts  of  the 
prison,  his  eye  sought  anxiously  among  the  women, 
but  he  saw  no  form  resembling  hers.  His  heart 
beat  more  freely.  The  Athenian  had  then  escaped, 
for  she  was  too  conspicuous  to  be  forgotten.  Night 
had  again  fallen  upon  the  city,  —  a  Syrian  night, 
which  is  only  a  paler  day  ;  the  stars  were  faint  and 
veiled,  and  not  a  breath  stirred  the  summits  of  the 
trees. 

Parthenia  had  returned  wearied  to  her  couch, 
when  her  handmaid  came  weeping  to  tell  her  that 
Theodoras  had  been  seized  and  hurried  to  prison. 
She  rose  instantly,  and  with  prompt  forethought 
assumed  her  dress  of  a  Grecian  priestess.  As  a 
Christian  maiden  she  would  have  been  seized  and 
imprisoned.  Then  she  scattered  upon  her  beauti 
ful  hair  the  golden  grasshoppers,  to  indicate  that 
she  was  the  daughter  of  Athens  and  entitled  to 
the  protection  of  Julian  in  the  streets  of  Antioch. 


344  PARTSENIA. 

Thus  disguised,  she  reached  the  gate  of  the  prison. 
There  was  nothing  strange  in  this,  for  wherever 
there  was  suffering,  there  were  the  Christian  women 
to  soothe  and  alleviate. 

As  she  reached  the  prison  gate,  she  came  sud 
denly  upon  the  Jew,  Cartophilus.  He  could  scarce 
ly  speak  from  surprise.  "  Fair  Athenian,"  at  length 
he  said,  "  I  rejoice  to  see  you  thus,  referring  to  her 
robe  as  priestess  ;  but  what  can  have  brought  your 
angelic  presence  into  these  abodes  of  guilt  ?  At 
least  accept  such  protection  as  a  poor  Jew  can  offer 
you." 

"  I  incur  no  danger,"  she  said.  "  Mercy  is  ever 
a  passport  to  suffering." 

The  delicate  Jew  shuddered,  for  he  began  to  per 
ceive  her  errand. 

It  was  a  low  and  dark  room  devoted  to  the  in 
famous  purpose  of  torture,  admitting  light  only 
through  the  roof,  and  at  night  by  torches.  The  door 
turned  upon  rusty  hinges,  for  Julian's  short  reign 
had  been  too  humane  to  allow  this  prison  to  be 
used,  and  soon  Parthenia  stood  like  an  angel  of 
mercy  among  the  dark,  mysterious  instruments. 

Theodoras  stood  bound  in  the  midst  of  the  dark 
figures.  "  See,"  said  the  Jew,  "  that  beautiful 
youth.  He  is  like  the  young  David  or  your  own 
Apollo.  Surely  he  is  not  a  subject  for  the  ques- 


PARTHENIA.  345 

tion.     His  frail  and  delicate  limbs  could  bear  no 
torture. " 

Parthenia  became  pale  as  ashes.  She  felt  a  dead 
ly  sickness,  and  came  very  near  to  swooning ;  but 
she  rallied  herself.  "  Can  I  not  bear  this,"  she 
said,  "  when  to-morrow  it  may  be  my  own  fate  ?  " 

Theodorus's  face  wore  an  expression  of  joy,  which 
changed  to  ecstasy  when  he  saw  Parthenia. 

"I  know  these  Christians,"  she  said  to  the  Jew; 
"  they  come  to  torture  and  to  death,  as  others  come 
to  a  bridal." 

"  Let  me  lead  you  hence,"  he  said ;  "  this  is  no 
place  for  woman,  —  no  place  for  you !  " 

"  Why,  then,  did  I  come  here  ?  Surely  not  to 
leave  my  friend  in  his  agony  ?  " 

She  stood  at  his  side.  The  soft  folds  of  her  veil 
were  laved  in  the  cooling  water,  and  she  bound 
them  gently  on  his  brow.  She  raised  her  eyes  and 
heart  to  heaven  for  strength,  and  then  whispered 
in  his  ear,  "  0  be  strong,  and  God  shall  comfort 
thy  heart !  " 

He  smiled  faintly.  "  Jesus  is  near  me,"  he 
whispered ;  "  his  angels  are  about  me !  " 

She  bathed  the  bleeding  lips.  "Jesus  is  waiting 
to  bless  thee,"  she  said ;  "  God  will  give  thee  a 
crown  of  rejoicing,  and  a  place  at  the  right  hand  of 
the  Father." 


346  PABTHENIA. 

"  Noble  Athenian,"  said  the  Jew,  "  Theodorus  is 
now  beyond  your  care"  (he  had  fainted)  ;  "  come, 
let  me  conduct  you  hence." 

Parthenia  turned  to  the  officer.  "  0,  leave  him 
in  that  blessed  unconsciousness !  I  beseech  you, 
wake  him  not  again  to  pain  and  agony." 

"  Take  care  of  yourself,"  said  the  brutal  officer ; 
"  you  have  need,  for  Julian  hates  beautiful  women. 
Besides,  these  Galileans  feel  no  pain.  These  iron 
arms  are  to  them  like  silken  tresses,  and  these  pin 
cers  give  them  the  kisses  of  love.  This  boy  will 
come  from  his  downy  couch,  rejoicing  like  a  bride 
groom." 

Parthenia  shuddered,  and  the  Jew  again  urged 
her  departure. 

At  this  moment,  Theodorus  revived,  and  turned 
his  eyes  towards  her.  "  One  of  God's  angels  stood 
by  me,"  he  said.  "  Ah !  she  has  not  yet  departed." 

Parthenia  gave  cordials  to  his  lips.  "  God  ...is 
ever  near  you,"  she  said ;  "  you  will  wear  the  white 
robes  of  the  martyr,  and  Jesus  will  bless  you  !  " 

"  0,"  said  he,  "  I  am  happy,  too  happy !  "  and 
again  he  swooned. 

"It  is  too  much ! "  said  the  Jew,  and  hastened 
from  the  prison. 

"  God  has  granted  him  an  oblivion  from  pain," 
she  said,  turning  to  the  officer.  "  0, 1  beseech  you 


PARTHENIA.  347 

leave  him  in  these  cold,  but  pitying  arms  of  death ! 
Be  merciful!  He  will  never  confess;  you  can 
wring  nothing  from  him." 

"  No,  by  Jupiter,"  said  the  officer,  "  the  spirit  in 
this  womanly  boy  is  stronger  than  Hercules.  It  is 
thus  with  all  these  Galileans.  In  every  prison  in 
the  Empire,  there  are  men  and  women  who  will 
not  open  their  lips  till  doomsday." 

"  The  Emperor  is  merciful ;  he  will  thank  you 
when  his  anger  cools,"  urged  Parthenia. 

Her  prayers  were  interrupted  by  the  appearance 
of  a  detachment  of  the  Emperor's  guard,  who  en 
tered  without  caution  or  ceremony.  Two  of  them 
approached  the  Christian  maiden,  and  respectfully 
signed  her  to  follow  them.  Her  friends  among  the 
crowd  began  to  weep,  but  she  was  herself  fearless, 
for  she  believed  in  the  Emperor's  friendship.  The 
Jew  had  hastened  from  the  prison  to  the  palace, 
and  in  his  interview  with  Julian  had  informed  him 
of  the  scene  he  had  just  left ;  and  the  Emperor  had 
given  instant  orders  that  Parthenia  should  be  re 
moved. 


348 


CHAPTER     XXXI. 

THE  SUBTERRANEAN  TEMPLE. 

THE  night  had  become  intensely  dark,  the  torches 
being  everywhere  extinguished,  and  as  Parthenia 
was  hurried,  between  the  two  officers,  through  the 
street,  she  felt  the  night  air  blowing  from  the  river. 
Presently,  at  the  margin  of  the  Orontes,  a  massive 
gate  was  opened,  and  as  quickly  closed  behind  her, 
as,  accompanied  by  the  two  officers,  she  began  to 
descend  a  path  which  led  deep  into  the  earth. 

To  the  Athenian  priestess  all  the  mysteries  of 
the  heathen  mythology  were  familiar,  and  she  soon 
perceived  that  they  were  descending  the  secret  path 
to  the  temple  of  Hecate.  She  knew,  although  she 
had  never  visited  it,  that  in  Antioch  a  temple,  to 
which  three  hundred  and  sixty-five  steps  beneath 
the  earth  conducted,  was  consecrated  to  this  dread 
Goddess,  and  that  magical  ceremonies  were  there 
resorted  to,  to  frighten  recent  converts  to  the  Chris 
tian  religion,  and  induce  them  to  renounce  their 
new  faith. 


PAETHENIA.  849 

At  length  they  reached  the  foot  of  the  descent, 
and  she  was  left  alone.  It  seemed  to  be  the  object 
of  whoever  had  led  her  there  to  weaken  and  terrify 
her  mind,  for  she  was  left  in  profound  darkness, 
and  wholly  unconscious  of  the  nature  of  her  prison. 
She  extended  her  arms,  touching  every  object,  till 
she  felt  the  cold  marble  of  the  altar,  and  traced 
above  it  the  form  of  the  dog-headed  Goddess  to 
whose  worship  it  was  consecrated.  Then  she  felt 
secure.  She  knew  that  she  was  in  the  temple  of  a 
heathen  Deity,  and  she  offered  a  fervent  prayer  to 
the  true  God,  the  Universal  Father,  and  to  Christ, 
his  Revealer  to  her  heart.  Then,  wearied  and  ex 
hausted,  for  she  had  not  slept  for  two  nights,  she 
leaned  upon  the  steps  of  the  altar,  and  fell  into  deep 
slumber. 

She  had  not  reposed  long  when  the  sounds  of 
sweet  music  mingled  with  her  dreams.  With  dif 
ficulty  she  aroused  herself  from  the  heaviness  of 
sleep  to  find  the  temple  brilliantly  illuminated, 
showing  upon  its  walls  incrustations  of  precious 
stones,  and  ivory,  and  gold,  beside  all  the  emblems 
of  the  triple  Goddess  of  magic,  and  mistress  of  the 
lower  world.  Hecate  was  believed  to  wander  by 
night  along  the  dark  places  of  the  earth,  seen  only 
by  dogs,  whose  baying  announced  her  approach. 
She  was  worshipped  as  an  averter  of  misfortune  and 
so 


350  PARTHENIA. 

a  protector  from  the  ills  lurking  in  the  darkness  of 
night. 

Behind  the  altar  the  Goddess  stood  in  the  form 
of  a  beautiful  woman,  the  bust  of  polished  marble 
of  exquisite  proportions,  but  surmounted  by  the 
head  of  a  dog.  This  altar  was  covered  with  cates 
of  various  forms,  and  offerings  partaking  of  the 
earth.  In  her  years  of  darkness  the  Grecian  maiden 
would  have  knelt  and  sought  the  protection  of  the 
Deity  of  the  place,  but  now  she  knelt  and  blessed 
God  that  the  darkness  had  passed  away. 

The  music,  which  had  approached  and  receded  in 
exquisite  strains,  now  ceased,  and  soon  was  heard 
the  approach  of  footsteps,  and  the  voices  in  various 
keys,  both  loud  and  low,  of  the  dogs.  A  curtain  in 
the  remote  part  of  the  temple  was  lifted,  and  the 
priestess  of  Hecate  appeared,  followed  by  her  canine 
attendants.  Wrinkled  and  bent  by  the  iron  hand 
whose  touch  none  can  withstand,  her  head  bound 
with  the  foliage  of  the  oak,  in  which  writhed  living 
serpents,  tamed  by  art,  whose  eyes  glittered  and 
whose  tongues  darted  vivid  flames,  she  scarcely 
deigned  to  notice  Parthenia,  but  proceeded  to  pre 
pare  her  altar  and  to  make  ready  for  her  incanta 
tions  and  ceremonies. 

Having  finished  her  work  of  preparation,  she  came 
to  the  side  of  Parthenia,  and  whispered,  "  Have  no 


PARTHENIA.  351 

fear !  I  know  the  secret  wishes  of  your  heart,  and 
my  art  will  soon  reveal  to  you  your  future  destiny, 
and  that  of  the  Empire  also." 

"  I  have  no  faith  in  your  art,"  said  Parthenia, 
coldly,  "  and  I  do  not  presume  to  connect  my  fate 
with  that  of  the  Empire." 

"  Are  you  wiser  than  those  wise  men  who  read 
the  secrets  of  destiny  in  the  stars?  " 

"  Look  at  me !  I  wear  the  dress  of  the  priestess, 
and  I  know  all  the  sorceries  of  priests  and  the  arts 
by  which  knavery  imposes  upon  credulity." 

"  Yet  there  is  an  occult  science  that  wrings  from 
destiny  the  secrets  of  the  future." 

Saying  this,  she  threw  upon  the  altar  a  prepara 
tion  of  drugs  which  she  had  concealed  in  her  robes, 
and  the  whole  temple  was  instantly  filled  with  a 
dense  vapor,  and  from  the  altar  rose  spiral  flames 
of  vivid  colors,  while  a  sickening  perfume,  together 
with  the  vapor,  weighed  heavily  upon  the  brain  of 
Parthenia.  She  knew  that  this  was  produced  by 
potent  drugs,  intended  to  dull  the  senses ;  she  en 
deavored  to  free  herself  from  the  oppression,  deter 
mining  to  keep  all  her  powers  of  mind  in  clearness 
and  activity. 

"  The  bright  star  consecrated  to  Hecate,  the  dog- 
star,  never  lies,"  said  the  priestess,  "  and  what  has 
been  revealed  to  the  wise  is,  by  our  pictured  art, 
revealed  to  the  simple." 


352  PARTHENIA. 

While  she  was  speaking,  the  dense  vapors  gath 
ered  into  a  curtain  on  one  side  of  the  temple,  and 
where  the  light  diverged  as  in  rays  from  a  central 
sun,  the  curtain  opened  and  a  dim  and  distant  land 
scape  was  revealed.  By  degrees  the  vapors  cleared, 
and  Parthenia  saw  more  and  more  distinctly  re 
vealed  a  broad  and  splendid  country,  with  vales 
and  hills,  bridges  spanning  a  wide  river,  farms, 
villas,  towns,  and  villages.  In  short,  the  whole 
Campagna  of  Rome,  and  the  Imperial  City  itself, 
where  the  Grecian  maiden  had  never  been,  but  in 
stantly  knew  as  Rome  in  the  distance.  But  the 
central  object  was  a  magnificent  heathen  temple, 
the  area  in  front  entirely  filled  by  an  immense  pro 
cession,  consisting  of  the  crowded  congregation  of 
all  nations.  There  were  priests  and  priestesses  of 
every  Deity,  in  festive  robes,  with  all  the  emblems 
of  their  worship,  in  all  their  highest  prosperity. 

She  saw  that  the  temple  was  dedicated  to  Mi 
nerva,  the  Goddess  of  Rome,  and  that  the  splendid 
festival  which  was  taking  place  in  the  capital  of 
the  Empire  was  to  indicate  that  the  heathen  wor 
ship  was  re-established  in  all  its  splendor,  even 
there. 

Her  eyes  by  a  strange  fascination  were  riveted  to 
the  scene,  and  to  the  two  figures  ascending,  at  the 
head  of  the  procession,  the  steps  of  the  temple. 


PARTHENIA,  353 

She  saw  that  one  was  Julian  in  his  robes  as  Sover 
eign  Pontiff ;  but  whose  was  the  veiled  female  figure 
at  his  side  ?  She  looked  again.  The  breeze  had 
blown  aside  the  veil,  and  she  saw  beneath,  her  own 
features  wearing  a  joyous  and  excited  expression. 

A  shade  of  scorn  now  mingled  with  her  astonish 
ment.  Could  the  Emperor  have  ordered  this  strange 
phantasmagoria  ?  and  what  could  have  been  his  ob 
ject?  Lost  in  conjecture,  she  turned  from  it  and 
covered  her  face  with  her  veil. 

A  few  moments  passed,  and  a  vivid  flash  of  light 
compelled  her  to  look  up.  The  Emperor  himself 
stood  near  her.  He  was  dressed  with  unusual  care, 
in  his  gorgeous  purple  robes,  and  in  other  respects 
he  was  carefully  adorned  and  perfumed.  All  his 
torians  unite  in  admitting  the  extreme  beauty  and 
majesty  of  Julian's  head.  His  eyes,  flashing  like 
diamonds,  had  also  a  penetrating  glance,  and  a  soft 
and  dreamy  light,  that  made  his  fixed  expression, 
when  turned  upon  one,  irresistible. 

Parthenia  in  an  instant  rose  to  her  feet.  Was 
the  Emperor  also  a  part  of  the  illusion,  or  was  he 
really  at  her  side  ?  The  color  flashed  crimson  on 
her  cheek  and  brow,  and  then  she  became  deadly 
pale.  It  was  partly  fear  that  blanched  her  cheek, 
for  though  she  had  reason  to  believe  in  the  friend 
ship  of  Julian,  she  had  not  been  deaf  to  the  thou- 

30* 


354  PAETHENIA. 

sand  stories  she  had  heard,  of  the  blood  he  had 
shed,  and  the  sacrifice  of  life,  both  of  young  women 
and  children,  in  his  researches  after  the  principle 
of  life.  Christians  delighted  to  repeat  stories  of 
his  cruelty,  which  could  not  fail  to  be  recalled  when 
she  found  herself  alone  with  him  in  this  under 
ground  temple,  where  no  cry  of  hers  could  reach  a 
human  ear. 

"  Beautiful  Greek,"  said  the  Emperor,  "  the  Im 
mortal  Gods  protect  and  bless  you  !  " 

"  Pardon  me,  Sire,  I  believe  but  in  one  God,  who 
alone  possesses  the  power  to  bless  or  to  injure." 

"Do  you  not  believe  in  the  dread  Goddess  to 
whom  this  temple  is  consecrated,  —  she  who  has 
just  now  uplifted  a  corner  of  the  dark  curtain  of  the 
future  ?  " 

Parthenia  looked  steadily  at  the  Emperor,  and  his 
eyes  fell  at  the  calm  glance  of  her  own.  "  It  was 
beneath  the  character  of  a  noble  prince,"  she  said, 
"  to  order  so  puerile  a  device  to  impose  on  the 
senses  of  a  simple  woman." 

Julian  believed  in  the  power  of  the  Infernal  Dei 
ties,  and  in  Hecate, — in  divination  and  in  auguries. 
How  far  he  understood  the  deceptions  of  the  priests 
is  not  known. 

"  She  in  whose  temple  we  stand  rules  the  destiny 
of  mortals,  as  the  unerring  minister  of  Zeus,  in 
whose  hands  are  the  issues  of  all  things." 


PARTHENJA.  855 

"  You  forget,  Sire,  that  you  are  speaking  to  one 
who  has  been  admitted  to  all  the  secrets  of  the  hea 
then  necromancy,  and  whose  senses  are  not  easily 
deceived." 

"  Thy  faith  in  the  Immortal  Gods  may  have  been 
for  a  moment  shaken,  but  it  can  be  as  easily  re 
sumed  as  the  Athenian  virgin  resumes  the  spotless 
robe  of  the  priestess  of  Pallas.  Is  not  Hecate  the 
universal  mother  ? " 

"  The  earth  is  indeed  our  mother,  and  with  an 
equal  love  she  bestows  her  gifts  upon  all  her  chil 
dren." 

"  Alas,  fair  Greek !  have  you  lost  that  ancient  and 
beautiful  faith  in  the  living  spirits  who  breathe  in 
all  the  elements,  —  the  lovely  beings  who  dwell  in 
the  caverns  of  the  earth,  who  give  beauty  to  the 
living  groves,  who  breathe  enchantment  over  falling 
waters  and  leaping  streams,  who  whisper  in  the 
evening  breeze,  and  with  unseen  hands  lead  on  the 
star  of  love,  who  roam  through  the  groves,  and 
whose  touch  revives  the  flowers,  as  their  breath  re 
news  their  perfumes  ?  Have  you  renounced  this 
lovely  faith  in  unseen  beings  ?  " 

"  Even  then,  Sire,  I  felt  the  emptiness  and  void 
of  our  religion.  The  beautiful  forms  of  our  wor 
ship —  perfect,  I  acknowledge,  in  their  outward 
grace  —  contain  within  but  bitter  ashes ;  the  fer- 


356  PAETHENIA. 

vency  and  calm  prayer  of  the  Christians,  the  enthu 
siasm  of  their  faith,  are  only  less  sublime  than  their 
daily  actions." 

"  Can  you,  doubting  our  own  beautiful  myths, 
believe  the  vulgar  and  puerile  fables  of  the  Gali 
leans  ? " 

"  Pardon  me,  Sire,  I  am  an  ignorant  woman,  and 
I  cannot  reason  upon  these  transcendent  subjects. 
I  believe  in  one  God  only,  who  is  a  spirit  every 
where  present,  and  whose  providence  watches  over 
the  destiny  of  mortals." 

"  You  believe  also  in  that  Jesus,  the  suborner  of 
men,  the  companion  of  thieves  and  prostitutes,  who 
was  never  heard  of  till  within  three  hundred  years, 
and  who  did  nothing  in  his  whole  life  but  heal  a 
few  who  were  lame  and  sick  ?  Compare  him  with 
^Esculapius,  and  he  sinks  into  insignificance." 

Parthenia  became  crimson  ;  her  voice  trembled. 
"  Can  the  Emperor,"  she  said,  "  despising  the  in 
capacity  of  woman,  condescend  to  instruct  her,  or  to 
punish  her  errors  ?  " 

"  Fair  Greek,  report  has  done  me  less  than  jus 
tice.  Would  you  esteem  me  more  if  I  had  been 
subdued  by  every  woman  to  whom  Venus  had  lent 
her  zone,  or  if  I  had  trembled  before  the  cruel  eye 
of  Constantia  ?  Noble  women  I  have  ever  honored. 
Was  not  Eusebia  my  friend,  whom  I  reverenced  in 


PARTHENIA.  857 

my  heart's  core,  scarcely  less  than  Basilina,  my 
mother  ?  " 

"  Ah !  Basilina  was  a  Christian,  and  her  lips 
taught  you  the  tender  precepts  of  Jesus.  Ah, 
Sire,  why  did  you  renounce  them  ?  " 

"  Had  all  Christians  been  like  Basilina,  per 
haps  —  But  alas  !  look  back  at  first  to  the  bloody 
tragedy  in  which  all  my  family  perished  by  Chris 
tian  hands ;  then  to  the  haughty  and  imbecile 
Christian  eunuchs,  who  alone  controlled  the  mind  of 
Constantius  and  held  my  destiny  in  their  wicked 
counsels ;  the  Christian  prelates  steeped  in  hypoc 
risy  and  living  in  ostentatious  luxury ;  the  Chris 
tian  Church  usurping  all  honors,  grasping  at  all 
emoluments,  and  shedding  the  blood  of  others  with 
the  ferocity  of  wild  beasts  ;  —  how  could  I  hesitate 
between  a  religion  which  produced  such  results, 
and  the  revival  of  our  ancient  venerable  worship?" 

"  Sire,  you  forget  the  Jewish  precept  about  pour 
ing  new  wine  into  old  bottles." 

"  There  is  another  Jewish  command,  '  Thou  shalt 
honor  thy  father  and  mother.'  The  past  is  our 
mother.  The  venerable  old  religion  of  long-past 
ages  is  our  father  and  our  mother,  while  this  new 
Galilean  superstition  is  scarcely  three  hundred  years 
old." 

"  I  cannot  argue.     I  am  a  woman  who  can  only 


358  PARTHENIA. 

feel,  and  the  new  religion  satisfies  the  longings  of 
the  heart.  Jesus  says,  <  Come  unto  me  and  I  will 
give  you  peace.'  Pardon  me,  Sire,  it  is  true  ;  I 
have  felt  the  peace  which  is  promised  to  those  who 
believe  in  him." 

A  crimson  spot  burned  on  either  cheek  of  Julian. 
He  began  to  feel  the  awkwardness  of  his  position, 
arguing  with  a  woman,  almost  with  a  young  girl. 
But  why  had  he  sought  this  interview  ?  Why  had 
she  been  conveyed  to  this  under-ground  temple  ? 
There  could  be  but  one  answer  to  the  question. 
The  Prince  had  ever  retained  a  fond  remembrance 
of  Athens.  He  wept  when  he  was  compelled  to 
leave  it.  Parthenia  had  seen  him  weep,  and  he  had 
preserved  enshrined  in  his  heart  the  fair  image  of 
the  Greek  maiden  as  the  only  woman  he  could  have 
loved,  the  only  being  who  had  begun  to  move  his 
heart  to  love.  The  memory  of  love  is  dear  to  every 
man,  even  if  it  has  been  unfortunate  or  fruitless. 
Like  the  reflected  sunlight  upon  the  morning  of 
life,  it  lingers  with  a  sweeter  beam  than  that  of  the 
gairish  day.  A  man  thinks  better  of  himself  for 
having  loved,  and  Julian  remembered  his  residence 
in  Athens  as  the  period  when  he  had  most  truly 
lived.  It  had  been  wrested  from  him  by  the  order 
to  return  to  the  court  and  to  marry  Helena, — Hel 
ena,  who  was  now  in  her  unhonored  grave. 


PARTHENIA.  359 

Julian's  enemies  say  that  he  was  never  known  to 
feel  the  softer  passions,  and  that  his  ideas  of  love 
were  taken  from  Ovid  and  Juvenal.  He  had  never 
dreamed  of  anything  sacred  in  woman.  That  Chris 
tian  idea  had  but  just  begun  to  penetrate  through 
the  sensualism  of  Heathenism,  and  to  «form  a  halo 
around  the  early  virgin  martyrs,  which  culminated 
a  few  centuries  afterwards  in  the  supreme  holiness 
and  worship  of  the  mother  of  Christ. 

The  beautiful  Athenian  was  the  only  woman 
that  he  would  raise  to  the  throne,  and  that  not 
altogether  because  he  loved  or  esteemed  her,  but 
because  she  had  been  the  priestess  of  Pallas  Athena, 
and  doubtless  would  aid  him  in  giving  brilliancy 
to  the  heathen  worship,  and  would  add  all  her  own 
grace  and  beauty  to  the  ceremonial  of  religion.  He 
could  not  believe  that  her  Christianity  was  more 
than  a  passing  fancy,  which  would  be  erased  and 
dissipated  by  the  splendid  prospect  before  her.  Be 
side,  there  had  been  Christian  Empresses  ;  and  could 
not  she  also  renounce  all  but  the  most  secret  alle 
giance  to  her  faith,  and  aid  him  in  the  outward 
show  of  another  worship  ? 

"Noble  Greek,"  he  began,  —  but  as  he  looked  at 
her,  the  proud  eye  of  Julian  sank  beneath  the  celes 
tial  blue  of  hers,  so  calm,  so  pure,  that  he  could  read 
no  worldly  ambition  there,  no  passion  or  weakness 


360  PARTHENIA. 

which  encouraged  him  to  go  on.  Still,  he  could  not 
go  back.  "  Noble  Greek,"  he  said  again,  "  I  will 
not  plead  for  Julian,  for  the  Emperor, — his  happi 
ness  is  of  small  account;  but  for  our  ancient  wor 
ship,  for  our  beautiful  temples,  for  our  gorgeous 
ceremonies,  .for  our  art  and  poetry.  I  would  plead 
with  Parthenia  to  unite  her  efforts  with  those  of  the 
Emperor,  to  bring  them  all  back  to  their  ancient 
lustre  and  to  their  place  in  the  heart  of  the  Empire. 
It  needs  but— " 

Parthenia  had  turned  deadly  pale.     "  Sire,  you 
forget  that  I  am  a  Christian." 

"  Forget  ?  No  !  but  what  is  the  superstition  of  a 
day,  which  had  its  birth  among  a  few  fishermen  of 
that  obscure  Judaea,  in  comparison  with  our  ancient 
religion,  which  was  born  before  the  constellations 
were  named  ?  Let  the  noble  Parthenia  be  per 
suaded  to  assume  again  her  office  and  her  robes  of 
priestess,  and  all  that  is  impure  or  unholy  shall  be 
banished  from  our  worship  ;  the  reign  of  beauty  and 
of  truth  shall  come  again ;  the  altars  shall  bear  only 
faithful  offerings  ;  victory  shall  again  crown  the  song 
of  heroes ;  soul-filled  games  and  dances  shall  again 
enliven  the  festivals.  The  groves  shall  echo  with 
the  joy  of  happy  hearts,  and  Apollo  shall  linger  to 
prolong  every  hour  of  light.  To  restore  this  reign 
of  the  Gods  upon  the  earth,  I  would,  like  Latona's 


PARTHENIA.  361 

son,  take  myself  the  shepherd's  staff,  and  go  forth 
to  tend  the  flocks  of  Admetus." 

Parthcnia  remained  silent,  with  her  eyes  cast 
down,  and  the  Emperor  continued:  — 

"  Life  has  been  to  me  but  a  solitary,  unloved 
path ;  and  now,  when  I  stand  on  the  summit,  it  is 
but  an  icy  pinnacle ;  but  as  I  look  forward,  with 
thee  at  my  side,  it  is  all  an  Elysian  stream,  peace 
ful  with  the  shadows  of  wisdom,  gay  with  the  sunlit 
ripples  of  joy.  Let  us  forget,  fair  Parthenia,  all 
that  has  filled  up  the  interval  since  the  lovely  sky 
of  Athens  bent  over  its  in  the  garden  of  the  Acad 
emy,  before  the  iron  hand  of  Nemesis  tore  me  from 
thee." 

"  The  hand  of  Nemesis  still  holds  her  iron  scep 
tre,"  said  Parthenia. 

"  Fairest,"  said  Julian,  with  a  smile  that  seemed 
to  illumine  the  temple,  "love  shall  draw  out  the 
thread  upon  which  are  strung  the  golden  years,  and 
the  beauty  of  our  lives  shall  lull  the  Parcaa  to  sleep." 

He  had  opened  a  glimpse  into  the  paradise  which 
the  Grecian  and  Christian  maiden,  in  moments  of 
joy,  had  alike  dreamed  of.  Could  she  take  the  first 
enchanted  step  ?  Alas,  no  !  The  two-edged  sword 
of  conscience  barred  the  entrance.  She  turned 
from  it,  —  and  a  momentary,  but  almost  insupport 
able,  pang  of  grief  shot  through  her  heart. 

31 


362  PARTHENIA. 

"  Not  even  Nemesis  can  turn  back  the  hours  that 
we  let  slip  from  us.  Alas,  Sire  !  thy  hand  had  power 
even  then  to  stay  our  destiny,  when  Parthenia  knew 
no  wish  but  thine. " 

"  Ungrateful !  to  remind  me  of  him  who  held  his 
cruel  foot  even  then  upon  my  neck,  and  whose  spies 
would  have  given  neither  you  nor  me  a  second  day 
of  love,"  said  Julian,  turning  pale  with  anger. 

"  Ah,  Julian  !  I  cannot  bear  thy  anger." 

It  was  the  first  time  she  had  ever  called  him 
Julian;  he  was  instantly  softened,  and  said, "Anger 
shall  never  come  between  thee  and  me !  Say  but 
one  word, — the  word  that  is  now  trembling  upon 
thy  lips,  —  because  in  thy  heart  thou  canst  not  hate 
Julian."  And  he  turned  upon  her  those  eyes  whose 
softest  expression  was  irresistible. 

It  was  impossible  for  the  Grecian  maiden  not  to 
understand  the  meaning  of  the  Emperor.  She  was 
a  woman,  —  she  loved  Julian,  and  ambition  was  not 
dead  in  her  breast.  To  be  Empress  was  a  dazzling 
elevation,  —  yes,  there  had  been  Christian  Em 
presses, —  why  not  another  ?  A  violent  conflict  was 
going  on  within  her,  which  turned  her  cheek  pale  as 
ashes,  and  caused  her  to  tremble  in  every  fibre  of 
her  frame.  She  loved  him,  but  it  was  a  sin  to  love 
him ;  and  after  some  moments  of  silence,  a  fervent 
prayer  for  help  was  answered  in  her  soul."*  Tears 


PAETHENIA.  363 

trembled  upon  her  eyelids ;  she  raised  the  cross 
which  hung  upon  her  neck  to  her  lips,  and  kissed 
it  fervently. 

Julian  understood  the  sign.  The  cross  had  once 
power  over  him,  but  now  a  slight  shade  of  contempt 
mingled  with  the  deep  feeling  of  disappointment. 
Still  he  saw  the  tears,  which  had  swelled  beyond 
her  eyelids  and  stood  in  two  large  drops ;  they 
encouraged  him  to  urge  his  suit.  He  knelt  at  her 
feet,  yes,  the  proud  Julian  knelt.  But  Parthenia 
had  now  recovered  from  her  embarrassment.  She 
saw  that  the  Emperor  sought  her  more  as  an  orna 
ment  for  the  pageantry  of  his  worship,  than  for 
herself  alone.  Her  heart  beat  calmly  again. 

"  Rise,  Sire,"  she  said,  "  that  position  becomes 
neither  you  nor  me."  At  the  same  time  she  rose 
herself,  and  retreated  a  few  steps  from  him.  "  Sire," 
she  said,  "  I  am  deeply  grateful ;  there  have  been 
hours  in  life  when  it  would  have  filled  me  with 
overflowing  joy  to  yield  to  a  wish  of  Julian's ;  but 
now  all  is  changed  within  and  around  me.  That 
he  whom  the  Emperor  despises,  that  Christ  has 
lived  and  died,  and  that  I  have  believed  in  him, 
is  all  the  world  to  me.  To  know  and  believe 
this  is  life  and  joy !  It  is  all  the  wisdom  and  all 
the  happiness  that  I  can  now  desire.  That  thou 
canst  neither  understand  nor  believe  as  I  do,  opens 


364  PAETHENIA. 

a  gulf  between  thee  and  me  wider  than  the  Em 
pire." 

"  Ah,  Parthenia,  I  hoped  we  might  unite  for  one 
great  object,  and  by  one  harmonious  eifort  set  the 
whole  Empire  to  divinest  music  !  " 

"  Sire,  the  only  real  good  is  the  life  which  Christ 
has  given  us ;  the  only  evil  is  separation  from  God." 

"  The  time  has  been  when  the  Athenian  maiden 
would  not  have  turned  away  from  the  pleading  of 
an  Emperor,  when  he  held  in  his  hand  the  gift  of 
the  Empire,"  he  said. 

Partlienia,  who  had  remained  pale  as  death,  now 
became  crimson.  "  Shall  I  gain  the  whole  world 
and  lose  my  own  soul  ?  What  would  you  give  in 
exchange  for  my  soul  ?  0  Sire,  would  you  rob  me 
of  peace  here  and  of  felicity  hereafter?  " 

"  What  do  we  know  of  felicity  hereafter  ?  The 
present  is  all  that  we  can  grasp  ;  alas !  we  let  the 
past  slip  from  us.  Is  not  a  life  of  ecstatic  joy  on 
earth  worth  all  the  uncertain  chimerical  hopes  of 
the  future?" 

"  Sire,  I  am  a  Christian  !  Even  at  this  moment 
the  Christian  subjects  of  the  Emperor  are  suffering 
torture  and  death.  The  voice  of  their  woe  cannot 
penetrate  these  vaults,  but  it  pierces  the  ear  of  God. 
Shall  I  unite  with  their  enemy  ?  "  She  paused,  for 
she  saw  Julian's  eye  flash  with  anger.  She  could 


PARTHENIA.  365 

have  braved  death  with  the  other  martyrs,  under 
the  excitement  of  numbers  and  the  inspiration  of 
enthusiasm;  but  alone,  in  the  night,  in  this  sub 
terranean  darkness,  her  woman's  timidity  returned. 
She  became  again  white  as  death,  and  trembled  in 
every  limb.  Not  that  she  feared  any  personal  vio 
lence  ;  0  no !  she  knew  Julian  better ;  but  she  feared 
that  she  might  betray  her  faith,  and  yield  too  much 
to  the  intimidation  of  his  presence  and  character. 

He  also  began  to  feel  the  futility  of  his  efforts 
and  the  absurdity  of  his  position  with  regard  to 
the  Athenian  maiden.  He  gave  the  sign,  and  the 
temple  became  instantly  dark  and  filled  with  the 
perfumes  intended  to  deaden  or  intoxicate  the 
senses. 

Parthenia  knew  their  power,  and  strove  success 
fully  against  them.  At  length  they  were  dissipated, 
and  the  pure  light  of  the  lamps,  rekindled  as  it  were 
by  magic,  revealed  only  the  priestess  and  herself  as 
occupants  of  the  temple. 


31* 


366 


CHAPTER   XXXII. 

THE  JEW. 

ALTHOUGH  the  information  conveyed  to  Julian  by 
Cartophilus  had  caused,  as  I  have  said,  the  removal 
of  Partlienia  from  witnessing  the  agony  of  Theo- 
dorus,  the  Emperor  had  summoned  the  noble  Jew 
to  an  interview  for  a  very  different  purpose. 

Before  entering  upon  his  expedition  against  Per 
sia,  Julian  wished  to  put  in  train  his  great  design 
of  rebuilding  the  temple  of  Jerusalem.  This  en 
terprise  regarded  nothing  less  than  the  destruction, 
at  the  same  time,  of  the  Christian  religion,  and  the 
discredit  of  the  ancient  Jewish  prophecies  respect 
ing  it.  Could  he  succeed  in  rebuilding  that  temple, 
of  which  the  prophecies  had  declared  "  that  one 
stone  upon  another  should  not  stand,"  he  would 
also  weaken  the  prophecies  respecting  the  coming 
of  Christ,  and  thus  the  edifice  of  Christianity,  de 
prived  of  the  foundation  of  Judaism,  would  crumble 
to  the  ground. 


PARTHENIA.  367 

"Noble  Cartopliilus,"  said  Julian,  "I  see  that 
you  retain  your  Jewish  costume  ;  why  is  your  an 
cient  worship  neglected?  I  approve  your  Jewish 
rites." 

"  Surely  the  Emperor  is  not  ignorant  that  only 
in  our  temple  on  Mount  Zion  are  we  permitted  to 
sacrifice." 

"  Certainly,  I  should  know ;  I  have  been  studying 
your  ancient  books,  and  I  have  learnt  that  the  time 
has  come  to  summon  the  wanderers  of  your  nation 
to  return  to  their  ancient  temple  upon  Mount  Zion." 

The  Jew  looked  keenly  at  the  Emperor,  but  he 
only  bowed  in  answer. 

"  Are  you  not  ready  to  gather  again  to  your  an 
cient  city  your  oppressed  and  scattered  people  ?  " 

"Jehovah  knows  my  heart,"  said  the  Jew ;  "  but 
the  Jewish  people  are  everywhere  dispersed,  every 
where  the  objects  of  contempt  and  hatred.  Years 
must  pass —  " 

"  Listen !  "  interrupted  Julian ;  "  I  have  found  in 
the  papers  of  my  predecessor  new  designs  for  taxing 
your  people.  I  have  cast  them  into  the  fire,  and  I 
will  now  release  them  from  the  excessive  tribute 
they  pay  into  my  treasury." 

"  Sire  ! " 

"  Hush  !  The  condition  is,  that  you  obtain 
through  your  prayers  that  I  return  victorious  from 


368  PARTHENIA. 

my  Persian  war.  I  will  then  rebuild  the  walls  of 
Jerusalem ;  and  the  holy  temple,  after  which  your 
whole  nation  sighs,  shall  rise  again  in  threefold 
beauty." 

"  And  will  your  Majesty  go  with  us  there  to  wor 
ship  the  Great  Jehovah  in  his  holy  temple  ?  " 

"  I  would  willingly  return  thanks  in  your  temple 
to  the  Great  Being,  whether  he  be  called  Jehovah 
or  Jupiter;  but  I  could  never  place  Zion  above 
Olympus." 

"  If  you  believe  in  one  Great  Being,  the  everlast 
ing  source  of  good,  I  see  not  how  you  can  fail  to 
worship  our  Jehovah." 

"  Yes,  but  I  believe  that  the  Great  Being  has 
formed  other  Deities,  which  fill  up  the  great  inter 
mediate  scale  between  him  and  us.  Helios,  the 
God  of  the  sun,  is  the  revealed  emblem  of  the  Su- 
Dreme  God,  and  the  object  of  our  devout  worship." 

"You  forget  our  great  command,  '  Thou  shalt 
have  no  other  Gods  before  me.": 

"  There  are  various  living  ideals  in  the  various 
Gods,  who  make  themselves  known  to  us  as  benefi 
cent  beings." 

"  The  Christians  say  that  God  is  made  known 
only  through  his  Son." 

"  Yes,  and  deny  the  great  Helios,  the  living,  ani 
mated,  spiritual,  beneficent  image  of  the  Supreme 
Father." 


PARTHENIA.  369 

"  But  let  us  put  aside  theology  till  I  return  vic 
torious  from  Persia  Now,  noble  Jew,  my  dearly 
loved  Alypius  and  yourself  are  appointed  to  sum 
mon  from  every  part  of  the  Empire  workmen  to 
Jerusalem,  and  I  will  give  you  orders  upon  my 
treasurers  for  the  funds  to  rebuild  the  temple  in 
all  its  former  magnificence  and  grandeur." 

"  Sire  !  these  sums  will  be  immense." 

"  Faint-hearted !  Cannot  the  Empire  in  all  its 
provinces  furnish  funds  for  one  temple  ?  Nemesis 
be  propitious,  and  we  shall  succeed." 

"  Jehovah  be  on  our  side,"  said  the  Jew, "  and 
we  cannot  fail !  " 

Cartophilus  was  too  shrewd  not  to  penetrate  the 
thin  disguise  of  the  Emperor.  It  was  no  love  for 
their  nation,  no  wish  to  restore  their  temple,  which 
prompted  this  benevolence.  The  present  scattered 
condition  of  the  Jews  was  a  perpetual  testimony  to 
the  truth  of  Christianity.  Could  the  ancient  proph 
ecies  be  falsified,  the  whole  would  fall  together. 


370 


CHAPTER    XXXIII. 

THE  CHRISTIANS. 

THE  prisons  of  Antioch  were  crowded  with  Chris 
tians  of  every  age.  The  Church  had  enjoyed  a 
season  of  repose  since  the  persecution  under  Dio 
cletian,  and  although  it  had  apparently  become 
supine  and  luxurious,  when  the  persecution  came, 
it  was  aroused  as  with  the  voice  of  the  trumpet, 
calling  the  sleeper  to  awake,  the  rich  and  luxurious 
to  shake  off  their  fetters  of  flowers,  and  the  indolent 
to  put  on  the  armor  of  steel  for  the  battle.  It  is 
true  that  many  succumbed  and  yielded  to  the  re 
wards  which  almost  always  followed  an  apostasy ; 
but  the  infamy  of  such  a  course  caused  many  to 
return. 

A  severe  struggle  took  place  in  the  breast  of 
Phorion.  He  had  never  been  a  very  zealous  Chris 
tian.  A  dreamer,  he  loved  the  philosophy  of  Plato ; 
and  had  Christ  not  lived,  he  would  have  been  happy 
as  a  Platonist.  He  was  one  now,  with  the  added 


PARTHENIA.  371 

faith  that  Christ  had  lived  and  died.  Under  the 
repeated  prayers  and  entreaties  of  his  mother,  he 
examined  the  Christian  Scriptures,  and  admired 
and  loved  their  touching  histories ;  but  he  denied 
that  Christ  had  revealed  any  new  truths.  That  he 
"  brought  life  and  immortality  to  light,"  he  said, 
was  only  a  reinforcing  of  what  had  been  revealed 
in  the  Jewish  Scriptures.  He  had  formed  for  him 
self  a  faith,  in  which  he  combined  with  the  Jehovah 
of  the  Hebrews,  the  united  truth  and  beauty  of 
Platonism,  the  self-denial  and  tenderness  of  Jesus. 

But  the  time  had  come  when  he  could  no  longer 
dwell  in  an  idealized  religion  ;  when  the  stern  ques 
tion  was  asked,  "  Is  Jesus  or  Apollo  your  God  ?  If 
the  latter,  scatter  this  incense  upon  his  altar,  and 
offer  the  daily  prayer  to  his  statue  as  it  stands  in 
the  glorious  temple." 

To  declare  himself  a  Christian  would,  he  thought, 
separate  him  from  Olympia :  he  was  not  prepared 
for  her  decisive  act,  to  throw  herself  into  the  power 
of  the  Prefect,  deny  her  country's  Gods,  and  go 
with  him  to  prison  and  to  death  !  "With  such  ex 
amples  of  faith  and  womanly  tenderness  as  his 
mother  and  Olympia,  could  he  hesitate  ?  No,  his 
luxurious  abode,  his  beautiful  collection  of  works 
of  art,  his  Sybarite  habits  of  ease  and  luxury,  all 
were  left,  and  he  went  to  the  squalid  and  crowded 


372  PARTHENIA. 

prison  where  his  mother  had  already  been  con 
veyed. 

Exhausted,  but  exultant,  suffering,  yet  full  of 
joy,  Monica  lay  upon  her  bed  of  pain  in  the  upper 
room  of  one  of  the  prisons  of  Antioch.  Every 
stroke  of  the  scourge  had  drawn  from  her,  with 
the  blood  that  followed,  almost  a  shout  of  joy  that 
she  had  been  found  worthy  to  suifcr  for  her  Lord. 
And  now,  as  she  lay  faint  upon  her  couch,  she 
saw,  or  fancied  that  she  saw,  the  lovely  faces  of  an 
gels  clustering  around  her,  and  that  she  heard  the 
blessed  words,  "  Well  done,  thou  faithful  servant ! 
enter  into  the  joy  of  thy  Lord." 

A  sombre  twilight  was  admitted  through  the  high 
grated  window  of  the  prison.  Some  scattered  rays 
fell  upon  the  pallid  face  and  compressed  lips  of  her 
son,  Phorion,  who  had,  as  I  intimated  above,  obtained 
the  favor  of  sharing  the  same  prison  with  his  mother. 

"  Arc  you  easier  now,  dear  mother  ?  "  he  asked. 

"  I  feel  no  pain,  my  son !  This -wooden  couch  is 
a  downy  bed,  and  balm  has  been  poured  upon  the 
wounds  of  the  scourge.  0  my  son !  we  can  only 
rejoice  that  we  have  been  found  worthy  to  suffer 
stripes  and  imprisonment  for  the  cause  of  our  Sav 
iour.  Think  of  what  he  suffered  for  us,  and  our 
pain  should  turn  to  a  song  of  joy." 

He  could  not  rejoice  with  his  mother,  but  re- 


PARTHENIA.  373 

minded  her  that  Olympia  would  soon  be  there. 
"My  mother,"  he  said,  "receive  her  to  your  heart. 
How  intense  must  have  been  that  love  for  us  which 
induced  her  not  only  to  declare  herself  a  Christian, 
—  a  Christian  in  loving  acts  she  has  always  been, — 
but  to  throw  herself  into  the  power  of  the  Prefect, 
that  she  might  share  and  soften  our  captivity.  Dear 
mother,  your  heart  is  not  still  shut  against  her?  " 

Monica  was  silent.  Phorion  received  this  silence 
as  consent ;  he  knelt  by  the  side  of  the  couch,  and 
pressed  upon  her  already  stiffened  fingers  a  grate 
ful  kiss  for  what  he  chose  to  accept  as  her  consent 
to  his  marriage  with  Olympia,  which  she  had  con 
stantly  opposed  upon  the  ground  that  Olympia  was 
a  Greek  and  a  Pagan,  and  that  her  son's  highest 
duty  must  be  to  the  Church,  to  serve  her  as  a 
monk,  to  sacrifice  all  family  affections  to  the  vows 
of  celibacy. 

Olympia  had  not  been  imprisoned  with  the  others, 
because  the  officers  of  Julian,  supposing  her  to 
belong  to  the  old  faith,  had  left  her  with  her  chil 
dren.  But  she  had  sought  the  dwelling  of  the 
Prefect,  and  obtained  leave  to  share,  accompanied 
by  her  two  infants,  the  prison  where  all  was  hidden 
that  made  life  to  her.  Her  baptism,  which  she 
urged  as  the  seal  of  her  faith,  and  the  ceremony 
of  her  marriage,  the  seal  upon  her  vows  of  love, 

32 


374  PARTHENIA. 

were  to  take  place  at  the  same  time,  through  the 
presence  of  an  aged  bishop,  who  was  also  a  tenant 
of  the  same  prison. 

She  entered,  bringing,  as  such  lovely  natures  are 
endowed  with  the  power  to  do,  a  flood  of  mental 
sunshine  into  the  dark  and  gloomy  prison.  She 
wore  the  blue  robe  and  white  veil,  the  usual  dress 
of  married  women  at  their  Christian  baptism,  which 
she  would  not  afterwards  exchange  for  a  marriage 
robe.  The  only  witnesses  of  this  betrothal  to  Chris 
tian  duty,  and  renewal  of  vows  long  since  accepted 
and  fulfilled,  were  the  Christians  in  the  prison. 
The  aged  bishop,  whose  benediction  was  all  they 
needed,  bore  already  deeply  scarred  upon  his  fore 
head  the  marks  of  a  former  persecution,  and  his 
bared  temples  were  ready  for  the  crown  of  mar 
tyrdom. 

"  Dearest,"  said  Phorion,  "  do  you  know  that,  in 
placing  your  hand  in  mine  with  the  marriage  vow, 
you  share  my  fortune  of  privation  and  saddest  pov 
erty.  Go  back,  beloved,  to  your  father  in  Corinth ; 
these  babes  shall  go  with  and  cheer  you." 

She  looked  earnestly  in  his  face ;  tears  quivered 
on  her  eyelids.  "Silence,"  she  said;  "ami  here 
to  desert  you  again  ?  Did  I  only  love  you  in  joy 
and  happiness  ?  and  am  I  not  your  wife  for  sorrow 
and  distress?  Shall  I  leave  you  now,  when  your 
anguish  makes  you  need  me  most  ?  " 


PARTHENIA.  375 

"  Olympia,"  he  said,  "  look  upon  these  children; 
they  may  soon  beg  their  bread  in  the  streets  of 
Antioch,  and  my  steps  may  lead  us  down  the  dark 
path  of  a  cruel  death !  " 

"  If  they  beg,  I  will  beg  with  them,  and  rejoice  in 
having  been  the  wife  of  Phorion.  I  am  here  be 
cause  I  am  yours,  and  I  will  never  leave  you." 

The  water  and  the  betrothal  ring  were  also  there, 
and  Olympia  was  baptized  into  sorrow,  and  wedded 
to  him  whose  steps  perhaps  would  lead  her  to 
martyrdom.  But  whatever  her  fate,  it  could  not 
be  disjoined  from  her  love.  She  was  not  made  for 
heroic  deeds,  or  for  "palm  and  crown";  the  pas 
sion  of  her  nature  was  centred  in  wife  and  mother 
hood  ;  "in  that  she  must  live,  or  have  no  life." 
Whatever  heroic  deed  this  passion  prompted,  it  was 
easy  for  her  to  do.  She  was  here  because  she  would 
not  be  separated  from  Phorion.  She  was  here  be 
cause  she  was  determined  to  save  him.  How,  she 
could  not  tell ;  but  save  him  she  must,  or  die  with 
him. 

The  order  that  the  Emperor  had  given  to  the 
Prefect,  to  exempt  the  Athenian  maiden  from  all 
share  in  the  persecution,  had  been  strictly  observed ; 
but  the  little  party  of  her  friends  in  the  prison, 
being  ignorant  of  this  order,  were  full  of  anxiety 


376  PARTHENIA. 

and  grief  when  she  did  not  return  from  her  agonized 
watch  by  the  suffering  Theodoras.  How  great  was 
their  joy  then,  when,  after  her  release  from  the 
temple  of  Hecate,  she  discovered  the  prison  of  their 
detention,  and  entered  just  as  the  preparations  were 
completed  for  the  baptism  of  Olympia. 

Monica,  who  had  ceased  to  speak,  and  whose  eyes 
were  already  darkened  by  the  films  of  death,  in 
stantly  knew  her  voice,  and  whispered  the  name 
she  had  taken  at  her  baptism.  "  Mary,"  she  said, 
"  come  here,  that  I  may  bless  you  before  I  die  !  " 

Parthenia  informed  them  of  Julian's  clemency 
towards  her,  but  was  silent  respecting  the  subter 
ranean  temple,  and  her  forced  nocturnal  visit,  as 
well  as  her  interview  with  him. 

Night  and  quiet  at  length  returned,  and  sleep 
that  comes  to  the  most  wretched  hushed  the  sounds 
of  anguish  in  the  prison ;  and  now  the  three  friends 
knelt  around  the  white-haired  man,  while  with 
trembling  lips  and  unsteady  fingers  he  poured  upon 
the  beautiful  head  of  Olyrnpia  the  baptismal  drops, 
and  afterwards  placed  again  upon  her  finger  the 
ring  which  had  been  that  of  betrothal,  now  con 
verted  to  the  holy  rite  of  marriage. 

Monica  had  watched  with  dying  eyes,  from  her 
couch  of  pain,  the  whole  touching  ceremony.  She 
felt  at  last,  with  humble  resignation,  that  it  was  the 


PARTHENIA.  377 

will  of  the  Highest  that  Phorion,  instead  of  devoting 
himself  to  the  Church  as  a  priest  or  monk,  should 
bend  to  the  humbler  duties  of  a  Christian  father, 
and  that,  if  he  could'  not  wear  the  martyr's  crown, 
he  must  bow  beneath  the  Christian's  cross.  Beside, 
her  moments  were  numbered.  She  was  no  longer 
young,  and  her  woman's  frame  yielded  beneath  the 
strokes  of  a  scourge  which  was  held  by  no  timid 
hand.  As  the  night  advanced  and  the  shadows 
gathered  in  that  prison  chamber,  they  veiled  the  de 
parting  spirit,  and  when  her  children  knelt  around 
her  they  heard  the  last  whispered  word,  thanking 
God  for  martyrdom. 

Olympia  had  become  a  Christian,  and  though 
willing  to  suffer  for  those  she  loved,  she  had  no 
ambition  to  become  a  martyr.  All  her  efforts  were 
now  bent  to  save  her  loved  ones  from  the  loathsome 
suffering  of  a  crowded  prison.  In  this  purpose 
Parthenia  came  to  her  aid. 

The  order  which  the  Emperor  had  given  to  the 
officers  of  his  guard  to  convey  her  to  the  under 
ground  temple  of  Hecate  remained  accidentally  in 
her  hand.  Fortunately,  from  her  long  connection 
with  the  heathen  ceremonies,  the  intricacies  and 
secret  avenues  of  their  subterranean  temples  were 
perfectly  known  to  her,  as  well  as  the  passwords 
and  cabalistic  signs  of  their  secret  associations.  It 

32* 


878  PABTHENIA. 

would  not  be  impossible,  therefore,  to  convey  Pho- 
rion  to  the  underground  concealment  of  the  temple, 
till  Julian  had  departed  upon  his  Persian  expedition. 
Olympia  was  in  no  danger,-  as  it  was  unknown 
outside  the  prison  that  she  had  embraced  Chris 
tianity. 

Phorion  consented  at  length  to  assume  the  con 
cealment  of  the  robe  of  the  Athenian  priestess,  while 
the  maiden  disguised  her  graceful  form  beneath  the 
manly  cloak. 

The  night  was  intensely  dark,  and  although  the 
streets  of  Antioch  are  said  at  this  time  to  have  been 
as  light  as  day  with  numerous  torches  and  lamps, 
the  obscurity  near  the  steps  which  led  to  the  tem 
ple  favored  their  concealment.  They  heard  the  rush 
ing  of  the  Orontes,  and  Parthenia  trembled  in  every 
limb  when  she  presented  to  the  keeper  of  the  gate 
leading  to  the  underground  temple  the  order  of  Ju 
lian.  The  well-known  signature  of  the  Emperor  was 
easily  recognized,  and,  as  the  gate  closed  behind 
them,  Phorion  could  not  avoid  a  shudder  of  appre 
hension  that  his  eyes  had  taken  leave  for  ever  of  the 
blessed  light  of  heaven. 


379 


CHAPTER   XXXIY. 

JULIAN  DEPAKTS  FOR  PERSIA. 

THE  longer  the  Emperor  dwelt  in  Antioch,  the 
more  he  repented  having  chosen  this  city  as  the 
place  of  his  residence.  His  manner  of  life — labori 
ous,  serious,  divided  between  the  civil  and  the  mil 
itary  service  and  affairs  of  state,  his  hours  of  re 
laxation  given  to  study,  or  to  his  friends — appeared 
like  a  censure  of  the  public  dissipation  and  of  the 
idleness  of  the  citizens.  His  decided  aversion  for 
all  spectacles  caused  the  public  pleasures  to  lan 
guish.  He  had  hardly  shown  himself  at  the  circus, 
and  then  with  an  air  of  such  discontent  that  he 
seemed  to  reproach  those  who  attended  there  for 
this  condescension  to  their  tastes.  He  was,  they 
said,  a  misanthrope,  a  savage,  whom  nothing  could 
tame. 

Libanius,  who  appreciated  and  admired  the  noble 
qualities  of  the  Emperor,  and,  like  a  true  friend, 
often  blamed,  was  yet  often  obliged  to  defend  him. 


380  PARTHENIA. 

"  See,"  said  one  of  the  citizens,  "  these  prepara 
tions  for  war ;  is  the  young  boaster  sufficiently  firm 
on  the  throne  to  imdertake  conquests  ?  —  as  if  he 
had  not  enough  enemies  at  home,  without  seeking 
them  in  foreign  lands." 

"The  army,"  said  Libanius,  "  adore  the  Emperor ; 
they  would  support  him  if  lie  conquered  the  great 
globe  itself." 

"  He  has  put  one  world  in  combustion,"  said  the 
citizen,  "persecuting  the  Christians,  and  he  will 
expose  himself  to  certain  ruin  by  this  imprudent 
and  premature  expedition." 

"  The  Emperor  trusts  in  his  star  and  in  the  favor 
of  Nemesis,"  said  a  citizen,  with  a  sneer. 

"  Intoxicated  with  success  and  pride  in  what  ho 
calls  *  the  favor  of  the  Gods,'  he  deserves  a  re 
verse,"  said  another. 

"  Ah !  "  said  Libanius,  "  those  who  tax  him  with 
imprudence  would  bo  the  first  to  accuse  him  of 
weakness  or  indifference  if  he  remained  in  repose. 
At  least  you  must  believe  in  his  clemency,  since 
you  say  these  things  to  me,  who  may  well  not  spare 
you  at  my  next  interview  with  the  Emperor.  Noth 
ing  will  satisfy  you ;  you  blame  equally  what  lie 
does,  and  what  he  does  not  do  ;  even  the  drought 
and  the  sterility  of  the  season  is  the  fault  of  the 
Emperor !  " 


PARTHENIA.  381 

"  At  least  you  must  admit  that  famine  has  fol 
lowed  him  from  Constantinople  to  Antioch,"  said 
the  other. 

"  Ah  yes !  the  fountains  are  dry  since  he  profaned 
them,"  continued  a  senator. 

"  You  must  admit,"  said  Libanius,  "  that  the 
means  which  the  Emperor  pursued  to  alleviate  the 
distress  was  a  mistake,  from  which  he  was  the  great 
est  sufferer." 

.  He  had,  in  fact,  imported  a  great  quantity  of 
wheat,  which  he  sold  at  a  price  much  below  its  val 
ue,  hoping  thus  to  open  the  granaries  of  the  rich 
merchants  also,  at  a  lower  price.  They,  however, 
were  not  so  disinterested  as  Julian  ;  they  bought 
up  his  own  wheat  at  its  low  price,  and  sold  it  again 
to  the  poor,  with  their  own,  at  a  greatly  augmented 
cost,  and  thus  increased  the  distress  of  the  poor. 

Julian,  justly  incensed,  ordered  the  whole  senate 
to  prison.  Libanius,  anxious  for  the  true  honor  of 
the  Emperor,  hastened  into  his  presence  to  plead 
against  so  arbitrary  a  proceeding. 

The  same  citizen  accosted  him  again.  "Friend," 
said  he,  "  me  thinks  you  are  too  near  the  river 
Orontes  to  plead  so  boldly  -with  the  Emperor." 

"  The  Emperor  is  no  tyrant,"  said  Libanius, 
"  and  such  surmises  as  that  only  dishonor  him." 

"When  he  reached  the  palace,  however,  he  found 


382  PARTHENIA. 

the  Emperor  less  lenient  than  usual.  He  urged 
that  the  whole  senate  merited  his  just  indignation. 

"True,"  said  Libanius,  "they  merit  the  indigna 
tion  of  the  Emperor,  but  the  Emperor  should  show 
the  world  that  he  can  discriminate  between  offences 
against  himself  and  crimes  against  the  state." 

"  All,  my  friend,"  said  he,  embracing  him,  "  you 
are  the  true  guardian  of  my  honor."  And  he  in 
stantly  gave  the  order  to  restore  the  senators  to 
their  homes. 

Julian  had  before  this  time  incurred  the  bitter 
hatred  of  the  Antiochians,  which  he  repaid  by  the 
most  biting  contempt.  Ii^a  city  where  the  arts  of 
luxury  and  effeminacy  were  honored,  the  serious 
and  manly  virtues  of  the  Emperor  could  be  the 
subject  of  ridicule  alone.  Fashion  was  the  only 
law,  pleasure  the  only  pursuit,  and  the  effeminate 
Orientals  could  neither  imitate  nor  admire  the  se 
vere  simplicity  which  Julian  always  maintained. 
During  the  Saturnalia  the  streets  of  the  city  re 
sounded  with  indecent  songs,  in  which  they  derided 
the  laws,  the  religion,  the  personal  conduct,  and 
even  the  beard  of  the  Emperor.  A  tyrant  might 
have  proscribed  the  lives  and  fortunes  of  the  citizens 
of  Antioch  ;  a  milder  sentence  might  have  deprived 
the  capital  of  the  East  of  its  honors  and  its  privi 
leges  ;  but  Julian,  endowed  with  quick  sensibility, 


PARTHENIA.  383 

and  possessed  of  absolute  power,  refused  himself 
the  gratification  of  revenge,  and  retaliated  only  by 
composing,  under  the  title  of  the  Misopogon,  or 
"  Enemy  of  the  Beard,"  an  ironical  confession  of  his 
own  faults,  and  a  severe  satire  of  the  effeminacy 
and  licentiousness  of  the  Antiochians.  This  satire 
was  publicly  exposed  on  the  gates  of  the  palace, 
and  Julian  then  prepared  to  leave  Antioch  for 
ever.  But  though  he  could  laugh,  he  could  not 
forgive,  and  he  appointed  them  a  governor  worthy 
only  of  such  subjects. 

When  it  was  urged  that  the  governor  he  had 
appointed  did  not  merit  the  office,  "  I  know  it 
well,"  said  the  Emperor,  "but  the  Antiochians 
deserve  to  obey  a  tyrant." 

The  senate  and  the  people  followed  the  Emperor 
outside  the  gates,  praying  him  to  forgive  the  past 
and  to  return  to  them. 

Julian,  pointing  to  his  friend  Libanius,  said  :  "  I 
see  that  you  rely  upon  this  just  man  to  restore  you 
to  my  favor ;  you  count  upon  sending  him  to  me 
after  every  fault,  to  beg  for  your  forgiveness  and  to 
reinstate  you  in  my  favor.  But  you  do  not  deserve 
that  I  should  leave  him  with  you.  Though  I  bid 
him  adieu  at  present,  I  shall  summon  him  to  fol 
low  me."  Then  the  Emperor  and  his  friend  em 
braced  each  other  tenderly,  and  Libanius  melted 
into  tears. 


384  PABTHENIA. 

The  army  of  Julian  had  already  filed  towards  the 
Euphrates.  They  dispersed  themselves  in  different 
places,  whence  they  could  unite  when  the  Emperor 
appeared. 

On  leaving  Antioch  he  took  the  road  to  Litarbe, 
and  arrived  the  next  day  at  Beroea,  that  city  com 
mended  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  for  the  readiness 
with  which  they  became  Christian.  The  senate  of 
this  city  were  nearly  all  believers  in  Christianity, 
and  the  chief  of  this  senate  had  just  cast  his  son 
out  of  his  house  because  the  latter  had  embraced 
the  religion  of  the  Emperor. 

Julian  invited  father  and  son  to  sup  with  him,  and 
placing  one  on  each  side  of  himself  upon  the  couch 
where  they  supped,  "  Ah,"  said  he,  addressing  him 
self  to  the  father,  "  it  appears  unjust  to  me  to  com 
pel  the  conscience.  I  do  not  compel  you  to  follow 
my  religion,  why  should  you  compel  your  son  to 
follow  yours  ?  " 

"  How,  my  lord !  do  you  open  your  royal  lips  in 
favor  of  this  villain,  this  enemy  of  the  true  God, 
who  prefers  a  lie  to  the  truth?" 

"  Softly,  softly,  my  friend !  let  us  put  aside  in 
vectives."  Then,  turning  to  the  boy,  he  said, 
"You  see  I  can  do  nothing  with  your  father;  I 
must  take  his  place,  and  be  a  father  to  you  in 
his  stead." 


PARTHENIA.  385 

Sapor,  against  whom  Julian's  preparations  were 
directed,  was  a  prince  of  an  insupportable  arrogance 
and  pride,  which,  however,  he  was  able,  with  a  suf 
ficient  motive,  to  subordinate  to  his  interests.  His 
craft  equalled  his  pride.  Notwithstanding  his  ha 
tred  against  the  Romans  and  the  superiority  he  had 
maintained  through  the  reign  of  Constantius,  Sapor 
would  have  consented  to  make  peace  had  he  been 
left  master  of  the  conditions  ;  but  Julian,  possessed 
by  the  thirst  of  conquest,  had  resolved  to  add  to  the 
number  of  princes  he  had  conquered  this  "  king  of 
kings,  placed  among  the  stars  and  brother  of  the 
sun  and  the  moon." 

As  the  Emperor's  finances  were  exhausted  by  his 
immense  preparations,  in  order  to  support  this  war 
he  established  a  tax  upon  all  those  who  would  not 
sacrifice  to  the  Pagan  Gods  ;  he  intended  to  employ 
the  money  of  the  Christians  to  conquer  Persia,  and 
the  leisure  which  this  conquest  would  procure  him 
to  destroy  the  Christians  afterwards. 

Two  great  roads  conducted  into  Persia.  One 
leading  to  and  passing  the  Tigris,  the  other  through 
Assyria,  along  the  banks  of  the  Euphrates.  Julian 
had  collected  immense  magazines  upon  both  routes. 
Having  decided  to  pass  the  Tigris  himself,  he  left 
upon  the  banks  of  the  Euphrates,  to  defend  Meso 
potamia,  thirty  thousand  of  the  elite  of  the  army, 

33 


386  PAETHENIA. 

under  the  two  bravest  of  his  generals.  This  army 
was  to  join  him  before  the  walls  of  Ctesiphon,  the 
capital  of  Persia. 

After  passing  the  river  that  divided  the  Per 
sian  Empire  from  the  Roman  territory,  the  Em 
peror  ascended  a  height  from  which  he  looked 
down  upon  his  immense  army,  sixty-five  thousand 
strong,  more  numerous  than  any  previous  Emperor 
had  ever  led  against  his  enemy.  The  broad  basin 
of  the  Euphrates  was  covered  by  his  fleet,  which 
was  to  accompany  this  army  to  the  heart  of  As 
syria,  stored  with  provisions,  medicines,  engines 
and  machines,  flat-bottomed  boats  to  form  bridges 
for  crossing  rivers,  in  short,  everything  which  the 
wisdom  or  the  humanity  of  Julian  could  suggest  for 
the  comfort  of  his  army.  Among  the  incredible 
quantity  of  provisions  there  was  nothing  for  luxu 
ry  or  pleasure.  He  had  embarked  a  very  large 
supply  of  biscuit  and  vinegar,  but  a  string  of  cam 
els  loaded  with  exquisite  wines  and  luxuries  he 
sent  back,  saying,  "  Take  away  these  poisoned 
sources  of  luxury  and  debauch;  a  soldier  should 
drink  no  wine  that  he  has  not  taken  from  the 
enemy ;  and  for  myself,  I  shall  live  upon  the  food 
of  the  common  soldier." 

After  the  river  was  passed  by  the  whole  army, 
upon  a  bridge  of  boats,  the  Emperor  ordered  the 


PARTHENIA.  387 

bridge  to  be  destroyed,  thus  leaving  no  resource 
behind  him  for  the  faithless  or  faint-hearted. 

There  were  two  classes  of  men  attached  to  the 
army,  who  were  a  constant  source  of  irritation  to 
Julian,  and  with  neither  of  which  could  he  dis 
pense.  These  were  the  soothsayers  and  the  phi 
losophers.  The  soothsayers  everywhere  found  prog 
nostics  of  misfortune ;  the  philosophers,  despising 
these,  relied  only  upon  physical  science.  The  first 
alleged  their  books,  and  the  rules  of  their  art ;  the 
second  dared  not  attack  the  rules,  but  disputed 
upon  their  application,  and  opposed  to  superstition 
the  experience  of  wisdom.  In  the  last  extremity, 
Julian  was  found,  notwithstanding  his  superstition, 
to  rely  upon  the  philosophers. 

The  army,  animated  by  their  own  courage,  and 
full  of  esteem  for  their  commander,  did  not  need 
an  address ;  but  Julian,  upon  passing  the  dividing 
river,  ascended  a  mound  of  turf,  and  made  an  ora 
tion  to  the  army,  exciting  them  to  the  most  heroic 
ardor,  especially  the  legions  who  had  accompanied 
the  Emperor  from  Gaul,  and  who  now  surpassed  all 
others  in  attachment  to  his  person.  The  oration 
was  closed  by  a  donation  of  one  hundred  and  thirty 
pieces  of  silver  to  each  soldier,  and  at  break  of  day 
the  whole  army  advanced  into  the  territory  of  the 
enemy. 


388  PARTHENIA. 

It  is  by  no  means  the  object  of  this  book  to  de 
scribe  the  conquests  of  Julian.  An  epic  poem 
might  be  written  upon  the  campaign  in  Persia, 
so  full  is  it  of  spirited  episodes  and  miracles  of 
heroism.  Julian  was  himself  never  absent  from 
the  post  of  danger,  darting  with  the  rapidity  of 
lightning  in  every  direction  where  aid  was  needed. 
At  the  centre,  which  he  commanded  in  person ; 
at  the  head,  where  was  his  standard ;  in  the  rear 
guard,  preventing  all  sedition;  soothing  by  his 
caressing  manners  and  air  of  kindness  all  disputes 
and  differences,  but  assuming  when  necessary  an 
authority  which  quelled  at  once  all  discontent. 
He  saw  everything  with  his  own  eyes,  and  trusted 
nothing  to  report.  All  ambuscades  and  snares  of 
the  enemy  were  investigated  by  himself,  exposing 
continually  his  own  person,  but  guarded  and  cher 
ished  by  the  soldiers,  every  one  of  whom  would 
have  sacrificed  his  life  for  his  beloved  general. 

The  sieges  conducted  by  the  Emperor  were  often 
distinguished  for  their  humanity.  But  in  one  in 
stance,  after  long-continued  labor  and  extensive 
mining,  the  city  of  Maogamalcha  was  taken,  where 
the  victorious  army  like  a  torrent  inundated  the 
territory,  and  put  every  inhabitant  to  the  sword. 
The  taking  of  this  city  required  miracles  almost  of 
daring  and  perseverance.  Julian's  vanity,  which 


PARTHENIA.  389 

had  till  then  been  little  gratified,  was  now  excited. 
"At  last,"  said  he,  "  there  is  work  for  the  sophists 
of  Syria  ;  this  exploit  is  worthy  to  exercise  the 
eloquence  of  Libanius." 

He  distributed  crowns  of  laurel  to  those  among 
his  soldiers  who  had  distinguished  themselves,  mak 
ing  their  eulogy  in  the  presence  of  the  whole  army. 
After  having  divided  the  booty  among  his  soldiers, 
reserving  for  himself  three  pieces  of  gold  which  he 
cherished  as  souvenirs,  they  brought  him  a  little 
fellow,  both  deaf  and  dumb,  whose  guardians  had 
been  killed,  and  who  instantly  attached  himself  to 
Julian  with  the  tenacity  which  such  unfortunate 
beings  often  display. 

This  little  mute  made  himself  understood  by  signs 
with  the  utmost  facility  and  grace,  and  he  soon  won 
the  favor  and  love  of  the  Prince  by  the  spirited  and 
delicate  meaning  he  continued  to  give  to  his  mute 
and  caressing  signs. 

The  Prince  was  amusing  himself  with  his  little 
captive,  when  certain  of  his  officers  craved  admit 
tance.  They  wished  to  present  to  him  female  cap 
tives  of  rare  beauty  taken  from  among  the  princesses 
of  Persia. 

Julian  declined  accepting  the  gift. 

"  Admit  them  only  to  your  presence,  Sire,"  said 
one  of  the  officers,  "  they  will  be  proud  of  subduing 

33* 


390  PARTHENIA. 

the  Emperor,  and  you  will  not  allow  such  grace  and 
beauty  to  be  assigned  to  meaner  hands." 

"  Why  should  I  expose  myself  to  an  infru.ence 
more  dangerous  than  all  the  snares  of  the  enemy?  " 

"  Does  the  Emperor  admit  that  he  could  become 
the  captive  of  beauty  ?  "  asked  the  officer. 

"Why  not  ?  The  greatest .  conquerors  have  thus 
been  conquered,  and  philosophers  have  submitted 
to  wear  the  chains  of  beauty.  No,  I  will  not  see 
them!" 

Upon  another  occasion,  after  the  capture  of  a  very 
strong  place,  Julian  mounted  the  tribunal  to  thank 
his  army,  promising  a  moderate  donative  of  a  hun 
dred  pieces  of  silver.  He  heard  upon  every  side 
murmurs  of  discontent ;  the  sum  appeared  too  mod 
erate.  The  Prince  instantly  assumed  that  majes 
tic  but  indignant  air  which  became  him  well,  and 
continued  his  harangue  thus :  — 

"  There  are  the  Persians !  Behold  the  Persians 
in  the  midst  of  opulence  and  luxury !  You  have 
only  to  enrich  yourselves !  The  Republic  is  ruined, 
since  unworthy  ministers  have  persuaded  their 
princes  to  purchase  from  the  Barbarians  a  shame 
less  peace,  that  they  may  have  liberty  to  return  to 
their  pleasures.  Hope  nothing  from  the  country ; 
the  finances  are  in  disorder ;  the  provinces  desert 
ed  ;  the  cities  exhausted.  For  myself,  of  all  my 


PARTHENIA.  391 

ancestral  estates,  there  remains  to  me  but  an  in 
trepid  soul.  An  Emperor  who  esteems  virtue  only 
need  not  blush  to  avow  his  poverty.  It  is  great 
to  resemble  Fabricius,  and  look  upon  glory  as  the 
only  treasure.  Here  are  glory  and  riches  presented 
to  your  acceptance,  provided  you  confide  in  my  care 
and  in  the  leading  of  the  Gods. 

"  But  if  you  yield  to  the  spirit  of  mutiny,  and 
pretend  to  dictate  to  me,  go  and  renew  the  in 
famy  of  your  ancient  seditions  !  For  myself,  I  shall 
die,  as  I  am,  Emperor!  but  full  of  contempt  for  this 
perishable  life,  which  a  fever  may  cut  off  in  a  day. 
Or  at  least,  should  I  live,  I  shall  leave  you  I  We 
have  here,  and  I  have  the  honor  to  say  it,  many 
generals  of  singular  merit;  profound  in  every  cir 
cumstance  of  war ;  capable  of  commanding,  and  of 
making  themselves  obeyed  !  " 

This  discourse,  in  which  there  prevailed  a  no 
ble  indifference  mingled  with  modesty  and  pride, 
changed  their  murmurs  into  protestations  of  obe 
dience,  and  with  one  voice  raised  even  to  the  skies 
the  authority  of  Julian,  and  the  nobleness  of  his 
sentiments. 

At  length  the  patience  and  valor  of  Julian  had 
triumphed  over  all  obstacles  that  opposed  his  march 
to  the  gates  of  Ctesiphon,  the  capital  of  Persia.  The 


392  PARTHENIA. 

city  had  the  reputation  of  being  impregnable,  and 
Julian  felt  himself  too  feeble  to  attempt  anything 
till  the  arrival  of  the  thirty  thousand  troops  which 
he  had  left  in  Mesopotamia.  He  defied  the  enemy 
to  hazard  a  battle  before  the  walls  of  Ctesiphon,  but 
they  answered  from  the  shelter  of  these  walls,  that, 
if  he  wished  to  fight,  he  must  come  and  seek  the 
great  king  in  his  citadel. 

The  monarch  had  no  wish  to  measure  himself 
with  Julian,  but  would  gladly  yield  one  part  of  his 
kingdom  to  save  the  other.  He  summoned  Her- 
misdas,  his  brother,  and  entreated  him  to  serve  as 
mediator  with  the  Emperor,  and  negotiate,  at  what 
ever  expense,  a  treaty  of  peace  ;  but  Julian,  desirous 
to  play  to  the  end  the  part  of  Alexander,  refused  to 
listen  to  any  proposition. 

The  Emperor  at  length  determined  to  re-ascend 
the  Tigris,  and  seek  the  troops  which  he  had  been 
so  long  expecting ;  for  without  this  addition  to  his 
army  he  could  do  nothing.  The  current  was  very 
rapid,  and  their  progress  extremely  slow ;  and  after 
some  forced  marches,  the  army  not  arriving,  Julian 
admitted  that  to  reach  the  frontier  upon  this  route, 
without  having  acquired  an  inch  of  territory,  would 
be  too  mortifying  to  the  ambition  of  a  youthful 
hero  like  himself.  He  returned,  therefore,  before 
the  walls  of  Ctesiphon.  He  must  rely  on  himself 
alone  ;  but  determine  upon  —  what  ? 


PARTHENIA.  393 

Julian  remained  in  this  painful  uncertainty.  The 
augurs  gave  no  favorable  answers ;  the  stars  were 
unpropitious.  His  midnight  studies  were  continued 
long  after  the  philosophers,  wearied  out,  had  retired 
to  their  own  tents.  He  was  alone ;  the  sentinel 
only  stood  at  the  door  of  the  tent,  when  a  venerable 
Persian,  whose  beard,  white  as  snow,  descended  011 
his  breast,  craved  admission  to  the  Emperor.  High 
birth  was  stamped  upon  his  noble  brow,  and  his 
whole  person  bore  the  impression  of  refined  culture 
and  unequivocal  nobleness. 

Julian  rose  in  surprise,  and  advanced  to  meet  his 
visitor. 

The  other  fell  at  his  feet,  and  embraced  his  knees. 
"  Behold,"  said  he,  "  the  servant  of  Sapor,  the  king 
of  kings,  who  has  fallen  into  disgrace  with  his 
master,  and  fearing  destruction  from  all  the  avenues 
of  life,  the  air,  the  food,  the  water,  being  poisoned 
to  him,  has  fled,  royal  Julian,  to  you,  and,  hating 
his  former  lord,  is  ready  to  lay  down  his  life  to 
serve  the  enemies  of  Sapor." 

"  What  would  you  ask  of  me  ?  "  said  Julian,  more 
and  more  surprised. 

"  Only  to  serve  you,  and  thus  to  prove  my  hatred 
of  the  tyrant." 

"  Can  you  ask  me  to  trust  a  traitor  ? "  said 
Julian. 


394  PABTHENIA. 

"  Sire,  the  proof  of  iny  truth  is,  that  I  will  render 
you  in  five  days  the  master  of  Persia.  Follow  my 
counsel,  and  the  king  of  kings  will  be  at  your  foot 
stool,  and  your  army  shall  revel  in  Ctesiphon." 

"  And  how  ?  Your  walls  are  impregnable,  and 
half  my  army,  my  best  troops,  far  off  in  Mesopo 
tamia.  Think  you,  that,  if  I  could  have  stormed 
yonder  walls,  I  should  have  sat  idly  here  ?  " 

"  Listen !  you  have  placed  the  kingdom  of  Sapor 
within  two  fingers  of  destruction.  The  fame  of 
your  exploits,  the  exploits  of  the  invincible  hero, 
has  spread  through  all  lands,  and  the  hearts  of  my 
countrymen  are  faint  with  affright.  They  feel  that 
entire  prostration  of  all  energy  which  presages  the 
fall  of  an  empire.  The  monarch  also  is  all  con 
sternation." 

"  But  what  does  all  this  avail  me,"  said  Julian, 
"  unless  by  force  or  fraud  I  can  enter  those  ada 
mantine  walls  ?  " 

"  Sapor  has  indeed  nothing  to  fear,  while,  a  slave 
to  your  fleet,  you  merely  coast  these  rivers.  He 
can  avoid  a  battle  with  ships  or  boats." 

"  What  then  would  you  have  me  do  ?  "  asked  Ju 
lian. 

"  A  conqueror  such  as  the  invincible  Julian  will 
know  how  to  throw  off  such  shackles.  What  pre 
vents  you  from  attacking  Sapor  in  his  citadel  ? " 


PABTHENIA.  395 

"Ah,  what  indeed  but  au  army ! "  said  Julian, 
with  a  sigh. 

"  A  true  soldier  should  expect  nothing  except 
from  himself  and  his  sword.  His  right  arm  should 
gain  all  his  honors." 

Julian  was  silent,  waiting  for  what  would  come 
next. 

"  Of  what  avail,"  continued  the  other,  "  are  all 
these  ships  and  magazines  ?  Mere  snares  for  cow 
ardice.  At  the  sight  of  these  refuges,  the  sailors 
grow  pale  and  indifferent.  Had  you  not  employed 
your  army  to  contend  against  the  waves  of  the  Ti 
gris,  you  would  have  conquered  the  enemy ;  Sapor 
would  have  been  dethroned,  and  your  army  rich 
with  the  treasures  of  Ctesiphon." 

Julian  fixed  his  stern  regard  upon  the  Persian ; 
his  eyes  alternately  flashed  with  hope,  or  were  veiled 
with  doubt. 

"  I  know  every  secret  way  to  the  city,"  continued 
the  old  man, "  and  subterranean  paths  leading  to  the 
heart  of  the  palace.  I  will  be  your  guide.  You 
will  need  provisions  for  four  days,  because  we  must 
pass  a  desert.  Hasten,  my  lord !  victory  is  certain, 
it  is  infallible !  My  head,  this  white  head  of  an 
aged  man,  shall  answer  for  the  truth  of  my  words. 
I  pledge  my  life,  my  liberty  ;  keep  me  prisoner  till 
I  shall  have  proved  my  truth.  Till  then  I  expect 
no  recompense  for  my  zeal." 


396  PAETHENIA. 

"  It  is  your  zeal  which  makes  me  doubt." 

"  Ah,  I  love  a  young  hero,  like  yourself,"  said  the 
Persian ;  "  beside,  that  effete  and  stupid  old  man  has 
turned  my  blood  to  hatred.  But  hasten,  my  lord  ! 
set  fire  to  your  fleet,  lest  it  fall  into  the  hands  of 
the  enemy." 

Julian  was  dazzled  by  this  daring  plan.  It  was 
brilliant,  bold,  and  singular,  and,  beside,  his  embar 
rassment  was  so  great  that  he  easily  fell  into  the 
snare.  By  burning  the  fleet  he  should  gain  twenty 
thousand  soldiers  for  his  army,  who  had  been  hith 
erto  employed  in  the  service  of  the  vessels. 

The  imagination  of  the  young  disciple  of  Plato 
was  intoxicated  with  visions  of  glory.  He  should 
run  through  Persia  as  a  conqueror,  and  perhaps 
penetrate  as  far  as  India.  In  vain  his  experienced 
generals  reminded  him  of  the  deceit  practised  upon 
Zopyrus,  and  of  the  deserters  who  made  Crassus 
perish.  In  vain  Hermisdas  entreated  him  not  to 
place  confidence  in  his  countryman,  and  warned 
him  that  a  Persian  was  capable  of  every  deceit. 
He  would  not  listen ;  but  ordered  his  army  to 
take  food  sufficient  for  twenty  days,  instead  of  four, 
and  commanded  them  to  set  fire  to  the  fleet. 

The  army  were  thrown  into  the  utmost  conster 
nation.  "  Are  we  betrayed  to  the  enemy  ?  "  they 
asked.  "  Has  the  Emperor  secret  intelligence  with 
Sapor?" 


PARTHENIA.  397 

The  Persian  could  nowhere  be  found. 

Julian  began  to  suspect  that  he  had  been  be 
trayed,  and  ordered  the  fire  extinguished.  The 
deserters  who  had  accompanied  the  spy  were  put 
to  the  question,  and  answered,  that  a  plot  had  been 
formed  for  the  destruction  of  the  Romans. 

They  saved  but  a  dozen  of  their  smallest  barks, 
which  were  transported  upon  wheels  to  serve  them 
at  need. 

But  how  did  Julian  support  this  misfortune,  so 
overwhelming  for  his  army,  so  humiliating  to  his 
pride,  his  self-esteem  ? 

He  endeavored  to  enliven,  to  cheer  his  soldiers. 
As  they  had  taken  provisions  for  twenty  days,  he 
did  not  despair  of  meeting  Sapor,  and  winning  the 
battle,  or  by  forced  marches  to  reach  a  fertile  and 
rich  country,  where  the  harvests  were  already  ripe. 

But  the  enemy  had  been  before  them,  and  set 
fire  to  the  forage  and  burnt  the  fruits.  The  army 
were  arrested  by  the  fire,  and  knew  not  what  path  to 
take.  It  was  difficult  to  advance,  dangerous  to  re 
cede,  impossible  to  find  food.  That  which  they  had 
taken  with  them  was  rapidly  consuming.  Julian 
concealed  a  deadly  anxiety  under  an  air  of  secu 
rity,  but  he  could  not  reassure  his  army  against 
the  horror  of  famine. 

34 


398  PARTHENIA. 

In  defect  of  human  prudence  they  consulted  the 
Gods ;  but  the  Gods,  after  many  sacrifices  of  oxen, 
which  they  could  ill  spare,  seemed  to  condemn 
everything  proposed.  At  length  all  suffrages  were 
united  in  the  project  to  endeavor  to  gain  a  small 
province  in  Armenia,  which  was  dependent  upon 
the  Romans. 

No  sooner  had  they  begun  their  march,  than  the 
troops  of  Sapor  began  to  appear.  The  appearance 
of  the  enemy  always  animated  the  Koman  soldiers, 
and  they  gained  easy  victories  over  these  detached 
portions  of  the  army  of  Sapor.  Indeed,  it  was  easy 
to  conquer  a  large  army  commanded  by  the  two 
sons  of  Sapor.  But,  unhappily,  Julian  had  in  his 
camp  an  enemy  more  formidable  than  the  Persians, 
more  deadly  than  all  their  ai-ins,  —  Famine ! 


399 


CHAPTER    XXXY. 

"THE  GALILEAN  HAS   CONQUERED." 

JULIAN  had  dismissed  his  generals  and  his  coun 
sellors  ;  his  friends  lingered,  but  at  length  all,  even 
Libanius,  had  left  him  to  the  solitude  of  his  tent. 

The  soldier  who  prepared  his  food,  for  he  had 
never  indulged  himself  with  a  cook,  brought  him  a 
little  soup ;  he  had  tasted  nothing  through  the  day. 
It  was  black  and  uninviting.  Julian  put  it  away. 
"  Carry  it,"  he  said,  "  to  the  tent  of  him,"  naming 
the  soldier,  "  who  is  suffering  from  debility  more 
than  his  general." 

"Sire,"  said  the  soldier,  "the  food  that  was  in 
tended  for  your  own  table  has  all  been  distributed, 
as  you  ordered,  to  the  soldiers  who  suffered :  you 
allow  me  to  provide  only  the  most  common  for 
yourself,  and  do  you  also  reject  this,  when  famine 
is  telling  its  sad  tale  upon  your  emaciated  form  ?  " 

"  Ah,"  said  Julian,  "  the  tale  will  soon  be  end 
ed."  He  dismissed  the  soldier,  and  threw  himself 


400  PARTHENIA. 

upon  his  couch  for  a  few  moments'  sleep.  The 
mute,  who  never  left  him,  was  sleeping  at  the  foot 
of  the  skin  which  formed  the  bed  of  the  Emperor. 

Julian  slept  that  uneasy  sleep  which  refreshes 
neither  mind  nor  body.  He  heard,  as  he  fancied, 
soft  music  in  his  tent.  Half  awake,  he  opened  his 
eyes,  and  saw,  faint  and  dim,  a  veiled  figure  gliding 
before  him.  He  was  instantly  wholly  awake,  and 
with  breathless  attention  fixed  upon  the  vision. 

The  Genius  of  the  Empire  stood  before  him,  such 
as  he  had  seen  in  Paris  before  the  crown  was 
forced  upon  him;  not  festive  and  radiant  as  he 
then  appeared,  but  pale,  drooping,  his  eyes  heavy 
with  tears,  and  the  brilliancy  of  the  royal  diadem 
which  he  wore  upon  his  head  soiled  and  dimmed, 
the  jewels  scattered,  while  he  bore  an  inverted  and 
empty  cornucopia  on  his  arm.  Julian  extended 
his  arms  towards  him.  The  Genius  looked  upon 
him  with  mournful  eyes ;  then  veiled  his  head, 
and  slowly,  with  averted,  tearful  gaze,  quitted  the 
tent. 

Julian  arose  from  his  couch,  and  went  out  into 
the  night  air.  The  intense  darkness  gave  place  to 
the  softer  shades  which  precede  the  dawn ;  faint 
blushes  began  to  kindle  along  the  eastern  sky,  but 
the  great  planets  Mars  and  Jupiter  were  not  yet 
dimmed. 


PARTHENIA.  401 

The  fires  upon  the  altars  were  again  kindled,  and 
the  Emperor,  with  almost  a  regretful  pang,  sacrificed 
his  last  beautiful  white  heifers.  Alas !  all  those  for 
which  the  soldiers  were  hungering  were  slain  upon 
the  altars  of  the  Gods,  to  implore  their  sorely  need 
ed  aid,  or  to  avert  their  anger ! 

Returning  to  his  tent,  the  Prince  observed  upon 
the  verge  of  the  horizon  apparently  a  ball  of  fire, 
swelling  and  inflaming  to  a  fiery  red.  His  agitated 
spirits  made  him  alive  to  superstitious  fears. 

"  What  portentous  and  threatening  omen  is  it  ?  " 
he  asked.  "  The  planet  Mars,  does  he  wear  that 
angry  and  fearful  aspect  ?  or  is  it  my  own  brilliant 
star  thus  fallen  and  about  to  set  for  ever?  Or 
can  it  be,"  he  continued,  "  only  an  exhalation 
from  the  damp  air  of  the  night,  which  a  breath 
will  dispel  ?  "  While  he  gazed,  it  sank  heavy  and 
dark  beneath  the  horizon.  Whatever  it  might  be, 
Julian  trembled ! 

He  called  his  servants,  and  bade  them  summon 
the  augurs.  They  assured  him  that  it  portended 
only  misfortune,  and  ordered  that  the  army  should 
remain  in  camp,  and  spend  the  day  in  sacrifices  and 
prayers. 

Necessity  and  famine  were  stronger  than  super 
stition.  Immediately  the  trumpets  sounded,  and 
the  order  to  march  was  given. 

34* 


402  PARTHENIA. 

Julian,  who  led  the  van  with  all  the  skill  of  a 
consummate  general,  was  perpetually  called  back, 
to  repel  the  Persian  army  which  hung  upon  their 
rear.  He  charged  with  fury,  beat  them  back,  and 
again  galloped  to  head  his  troops. 

The  intense  heat  of  the  weather  had  compelled 
the  Prince  to  throw  off  all  but  the  lightest  armor, 
and  also  to  lay  aside  his  cuirass.  On  the  second 
day,  while  he  led  the  van,  he  was  alarmed  by  the  in 
telligence  that  the  rear-guard  was  suddenly  over 
powered.  He  snatched  a  shield  from  an  attendant, 
and  hastened  to  its  relief.  He  was  instantly  re 
called  to  the  defence  of  the  front ;  and  as  he  gal 
loped  forward,  the  centre  of  the  left  was  assailed  by 
a  furious  charge  of  elephants  and  cavalry. 

By  his  well-timed  evolution  of  the  light  infantry, 
the  barbarians  fled ;  and  the  Emperor,  standing  in 
his  stirrups,  without  his  helmet,  his  hair  stream 
ing  on  the  wind,  animated  the  pursuit  with  voice 
and  gesture.  His  trembling  guards  reminded  him 
that  he  was  without  helmet  or  armor,  and  conjured 
him  to  abandon  the  pursuit.  As  they  still  ex 
claimed  and  entreated,  a  cloud  of  darts  and  arrows 
were  discharged  behind  by  the  flying  enemy.  A 
javelin,  taking  an  unerring  aim,  after  grazing  the 
skin  of  the  arm,  pierced  the  ribs  and  buried  itself  in 
the  Emperor's  side. 


PARTHENIA.  403 

"  Ah,  I  am  hurt !  "  he  cried,  "  and  seized  the 
dart  to  draw  it  out.  The  sharp  edges  cut  his  fin 
gers  to  the  bone,  and  Julian  fell  fainting  from  his 
horse. 

The  guards  flew  to  raise  the  Emperor  from  the 
ground,  and  placing  him  upon  a  buckler,  he  was 
borne  to  his  tent. 

The  faithful  physician,  Oribasius,  the  friend  of 
his  youth,  one  of  those  to  whom  Basilina  had  com 
mitted  her  infant  son,  was  instantly  at  his  side  ;  Li- 
banius  heard  the  appalling  news,  and  rushed  to  aid 
his  friend ;  Sallust  was  leading  on  the  enraged  sol 
diers  to  avenge  their  Emperor.  As  soon  as  the 
wound  was  bandaged,  Julian  rose  from  the  ground, 
crying  out,  "  A  horse  and  my  shield  !  "  and  he  would 
have  rushed  again  to  the  battle.  The  effort  was  too 
great,  and  he  fell  fainting  again  into  the  arms  of 
his  friends. 

Oribasius  examined  the  wound  anew;  tears,  in 
spite  of  his  efforts  to  repress  them,  streamed  down 
his  cheeks  as  he  turned  to  the  friends  collected  in 
the  tent.  Then  they  knew  that  the  wound  was 
mortal. 

Julian,  extended  upon  a  lion's  skin,  his  usual 
couch,  retained  a  cheerful  and  even  joyous  expres 
sion,  while  a  mournful  silence  prevailed  throughout 
the  tent,  tears  filling  the  eyes  of  all  who  approached 


404  PARTHENIA. 

him,  and  even  the  philosophers,  unused  to  weeping, 
were  oppressed  with  grief. 

An  oracle  had  formerly  predicted  to  Julian  that 
he  should  finish  his  days  in  Phrygia.  Superstitious 
to  the  last,  he  said  to  those  weeping  around  him : 
"  Be  not  dismayed,  my  friends.  Julian  is  not  yet 
conquered.  Nemesis  is  baffled  !  I  trust  the  oracle 
which  told  me  that  I  should  die  in  Asia  Minor,  in 
a  Phrygian  city." 

"  Alas !  "  said  one  of  those  standing  near,  "  this 
very  spot  is  called  Phrygia." 

A  cloud  darkened  the  face  of  Julian  ;  he  threw 
his  arms  aloft  and  cried,  "  GALILEAN  !  THOU  HAST 
CONQUERED  !  "  A  deep  silence  prevailed  in  the  tent. 
After  a  few  moments,  he  resumed  all  his  cheerful 
ness.  "  Dear  companions,  friends,"  he  said,  "why 
do  you  weep  ?  Nature  only  demands  of  me  that 
which  she  has  lent  me  for  thirty  years,  and  I  dis 
charge  the  debt  with  ready  cheerfulness." 

Libanius,  entirely  prostrated  by  grief,  could  scarce 
ly  endure  the  smile  which  quivered  upon  the  pal 
lid  lips  of  his  friend  ;  he  sat  by  his  side,  with  face 
averted. 

"  My  friend,"  said  Julian,  "  how  often  have  we 
talked  of  this  hour  !  How  often  have  we  learnt 
from  philosophy  that  the  soul  is  more  excellent  than 
the  body  !  And  should  we  not  rejoice,  rather  than 


PARTHENIA.  405 

grieve,  when  the  noble  part  is  disengaged  from  that 
which  drags  it  down  to  earth  ?  " 

"  Ah ! "  said  Libanius,  "  could  we  but  accompany 
thee  !  But  fear  not,  my  friend  ;  my  soul  will  over 
take  thine  in  the  Islands  of  the  Blessed  ! " 

Julian  did  not  detect  his  meaning,  and  continued : 
"  An  early  death  is  often  the  reward  which  the  Gods 
vouchsafe  to  piety.  How  grateful  am  I  to  the 
Eternal  Being,  who  has  not  suffered  me  to  perish 
by  the  secret  dagger  of  conspiracy,  or  by  the  slow 
tortures  of  disease." 

"  Or  by  the  cruelty  of  a  tyrant,"  said  Libanius. 

Julian  pressed  his  friend's  hand.  "  I  knew  that 
I  was  destined  to  fall  by  the  sword.  I  have  not 
withheld  myself  from  danger.  The  Eternal  Being 
has  granted  me  a  glorious  departure  from  this 
world.  I  thank  Him  most  devoutly !  Ah,  my 
weeping  friends,  I  would  say  more  to  comfort  you ; 
but  I  feel  the  breath,  I  hear  the  fanning  of  6  the 
wing  of  the  Genius  of  death.' ' 

His  friends  pressed  round,  urging  him  to  name  a 
successor. 

"  Nay,  my  friends,  my  choice  might  be  impru 
dent,  and,  if  not  ratified  by  the  army,  fatal  to  him 
whom  I  should  choose.  The  little  which  remains 
for  me  to  dispose  of,  the  remnant  of  my  private 
property,  I  would  and  do  divide  among  these 


406  PARTHENIA, 

friends.  But  where  is  another  who  loves  me, — 
where  is  Anatolius  ?  " 

"  Ah,  Sire,"  said  Salhist,  "  Anatolius  is  happy!" 

Julian,  who  until  then  had  not  shed  a  tear,  now 
turned  aside  his  head  and  wept. 

This  excited  the  grief  of  his  friends  anew,  and 
the  tent  was  filled  with  wailing  and  violent  weeping. 

Julian  roused  a  little.  "  Ah,  why  will  ye  break 
my  heart  with  your  grief,  and  why  disgrace  with 
these  unmanly  tears  the  fate  of  one  who  in  a  few 
moments  will  be  united  with  the  stars !  " 

Instantly  the  friends  were  dumb ;  a  deep  and 
respectful  silence  was  only  broken  by  the  piteous 
wailing  of  the  little  mute,  Julian's  petted  favorite, 
who  had  been  lying  prostrate  at  the  head  of  the 
couch,  and  whose  presence  had  been  unobserved. 
All  the  avenues  of  the  tent  were  crowded  by  the 
eager  faces  of  veterans,  down  whose  shaggy  beards 
flowed  the  anxious  tears.  They  pressed  upon  each 
other  to  catch  one  glance  of  him  more  beloved  than 
any  Emperor  of  Home  had  ever  been. 

"  0  my  honest  braves !  "  he  cried,  "  would  that 
the  Immortal  Gods  had  granted  me  the  power  to 
make  you  all  rich  and  happy  !  But,  alas  !  Julian  is 
poorer  than  the  poorest  of  you  all.  His  only  riches 
is  the  possession  of  his  immortal  soul !  " 

The  midsummer  night  advanced  with  slow  and 


PARTHENIA.  407 

humid  steps.  The  southern  constellations  looked 
down  upon  the  tent,  and  the  sweet  influences  of 
the  Pleiades  were  not  stayed  by  the  departing  soul 
of  him  who  had  always  believed  himself  peculiarly 
connected  with  the  stars.  Silently  the  moments 
dropped  like  pearls  from  his  thread  of  life,  which 
the  angels  gathered  into  the  treasury  of  eternity. 
Soon  the  great  mystery  would  be  solved  for  him, 
and  he  would  learn  whether  unseen  angels  or  the 
messengers  of  the  Gods  would  conduct  his  soul  into 
the  presence  of  that  Divine  Creator  and  Soul  of  the 
universe,  in  whom  he  had  always  devoutly  believed. 
Midnight  had  struck  with  that  deadly  echo  which 
toned  itself  upon  every  heart.  The  Emperor  asked 
faintly  for  water.  He  drank,  —  a  dying  smile  lin 
gered  upon  his  lips,  but  his  soul  had  departed. 


408 


CHAPTER    XXXYI. 

THE    CONVENT. 

MONASTERIES  for  both  sexes  had  arisen  through 
out  Christendom.  It  was  the  influence  of  the  spirit 
of  the  age,  which  compelled  multitudes  to  flee  from 
the  world  to  ascetic  and  solitary  seclusion.  The 
mother  and  sisters  of  St.  Basil,  the  contemporary 
of  Julian,  had  founded  a  convent  for  women  in 
the  vicinity  of  Antioch,  where  the  sisters  and  the 
daughters  of  senators  and  nobles  hastened  to  bury 
beneath  its  sombre  roof  their  beauty  and  their  still 
fresh  and  blooming  youth. 

A  short  time  after  the  events  described  in  the 
last  chapter,  at  the  close  of  a  day  in  autumn,  a 
litter,  borne  on  the  shoulders  of  men,  slowly  ascend 
ed  these  heights  beyond  the  city.  It  was  followed 
by  servants,  and  a  little  apart  from  the  others  rode 
a  horseman  whom  we  have  seen  before,  whose 
Grecian  features,  harmonized  by  the  influences  of 


PARTHENIA.  409 

Christianity,  were  still  more  softened  by  recent 
sorrow.  As  the  cortege  ascended  the  last  height, 
and  passed  through  an  opening  in  the  hills,  they 
looked  down  upon  an  area  of  gently  sloping  fields, 
surrounded  on  three  sides  by  hills,  the  fourth  bound 
ed  by  a  rapid  and  sparkling  river.  This  rounded 
valley  was  fenced  by  lofty  trees  of  every  variety, 
enclosing  and  shutting  it  in,  like  a  solitary  island 
of  verdure.  Fertilized  by  mountain  streams,  it 
yielded  to  the  lightest  culture  every  variety  of 
plant  and  flower. 

This  company  were  met,  as  they  paused  upon  the 
height,  by  refreshing  breezes  from  the  river,  by  the 
delicious  fragrance  of  many  flowers,  and  the  singing 
of  innumerable  birds,  which  the  unbroken  silence  of 
this  retreat  had  allured  as  to  a  secure  asylum. 

"Here,"  thought  Phorion,  who  had  drawn  near 
the  litter,  "  might  be  found  the  sweetest  fruit  of 
solitude  and  repose." 

"  Here,"  said  Olympia,  "  one  might  forget  the 
world,  and  with  one  loved  being  enjoy  an  Elysium 
of  peace,"  —  and  she  pressed  her  lips  upon  the  hand 
which  rested  upon  the  side  of  the  litter. 

In  the  centre  of  this  lovely  valley  was  the  convent 
already  mentioned,  founded  by  thoughtful  piety  for 
recluses  of  both  sexes ;  for  St.  Basil  had  himself  cs- 

35 


410  PARTHENIA. 

tablished  a  convent  for  men,  near  that  founded  by 
his  mother  for  the  other  sex. 

At  this  period  Christianity  seemed  to  have  failed 
of  its  divine  mission  to  reform  society,  and  within 
its  circle  there  was  no  refuge  for  the  gentle,  the 
innocent,  and  devout  spirit ;  no  peace,  no  security, 
no  home,  but  the  cloister.  "  There  was  an  almost 
universal  feeling  of  the  pressure  and  the  burden  of 
sorrow  ;  an  awakening  of  the  conscience  to  wrong, 
a  blind,  anxious  groping  for  the  right,  a  feeling  that 
what  had  hitherto  sufficed  to  humanity  would  suf 
fice  no  longer."  But  religious  fear  took  the  place 
of  religious  hope,  and  those  assailed  by  the  vision  of 
seductive  pleasures  which  they  had  not  strength 
to  avoid,  or  wrung  with  repentance  for  sins  already 
committed,  fled  to  the  convent,  there  to  atone  by 
ascetic  privations,  by  the  maceration  of  the  limbs 
and  the  scourging  of  the  body,  to  Him  who  looketh 
upon  the  heart. 

But  all  came  not  for  self-immolation;  the  most 
numerous  class,  especially  of  women,  came  to  bury 
for  ever  in  the  sombre  shades  of  the  cloister  hearts 
broken  by  disappointment  and  made  desolate  by  the 
inconstancy  and  the  perfidy  of  others,  —  gentle  and 
crushed  spirits,  for  whom  there  was  no  future,  ex 
cept  in  the  cloister.  Here  they  met,  from  places 
far  apart,  from  lands  divided  by  seas  and  by  moun- 


PARTHENIA.  411 

tains ;  faces  of  every  degree  and  shade  of  beauty, 
forms  bending  under  unuttered  sorrows,  yet  all 
concealing  the  same  wound  at  heart,  for  which  the 
world  contained  neither  balm  nor  simple,  neither 
poppy  nor  mandragora.  Each  believed  her  own 
wound  concealed  from  every  other,  but  all  knew 
that  the  voices,  variously  attuned  in  hymns,  in 
chants,  and  in  prayer,  had  all  the  same  key-note 
of  disappointed  hope,  of  broken  vows  and  love  be 
trayed.  All  were  like  shattered  vases,  breathing  in 
every  fragment  the  perfume  that  once  filled  them 
with  the  fragrance  of  love. 

Our  party  descended  the  winding  path  which  led 
to  this  singular  valley,  just  as  the  first  rays  of  the 
rising  sun  seemed  to  throw  a  transparent  veil  woven 
of  golden  vapor  upon  the  summits  of  the  motionless 
trees.  They  approached  the  centre,  the  chapel  of 
the  cloister  common  to  both  sexes.  In  this  early 
age  of  the  Church,  men  and  women  could  pray  to 
gether  without  apprehension  of  evil.  It  was  the 
matin  hour,  and  the  recluses,  arranged  on  either 
side  of  the  altar,  each  in  his  or  her  white  robe, 
were  kneeling  immovable,  with  head  bent  forward 
in  the  attitude  of  profoundest  meditation.  Their 
exterior  presented  that  deep  peace  of  souls  disabused 
of  the  delusions  of  the  world,  and  already  admitted 
to  that  eternal  repose,  that  beatitude  promised  to 
the  pure  of  heart. 


412  PARTHENIA. 

As  the  recluses  rose,  Partlicnia  met  the  friends 
who  had  come  to  seek  her.  They  did  not  imme 
diately  recognize  her  in  the  cloud  of  white-robed 
companions,  who  seemed  like  doves  to  flutter  before 
them.  She  knew  them  instantly,  and  came  forward 
to  greet  them  with  cordial  welcome.  Her  dress 
was  little  altered  from  that  she  wore  as  priestess 
of  Pallas, — the  white  robe  of  softest  wool,  but  with 
out  the  purple  border ;  and  instead  of  the  golden 
grasshoppers  or  the  wreath  of  silver  laurel-leaves, 
she  wore  a  veil  of  the  same  material,  concealing  her 
beautiful  hair.  She  was  pale,  and  much  changed 
since  we  first  saw  her  in  Athens.  They  perceived 
that  she  had  not  yet  attained  that  perfect  abnegation 
of  self  which  should  belong  to  the  life  of  the  cloister. 
She  had  not  yet  "  forgot  herself  to  stone."  She  must 
wear  her  crown  of  thorns  still  longer,  before  she 
could  win  the  crown  and  palm  of  the  martyr. 

A  vivid  blush  of  pleasure  convinced  Parthcnia's 
friends  that,  as  yet,  she  was  no  Stoic.  She  led  the 
way  to  her  cell,  a  small  apartment  of  ten  feet 
square,  bare  and  empty,  except  for  the  narrow 
plank  which  formed  her  couch,  and  a  deal  shelf, 
upon  which  lay  a  beautiful  copy  of  the  Gospels, 
transcribed  by  herself.  There  was,  also,  shining  like 
a  star  in  the  cell,  a  small  statue  of  the  Saviour,  of 
carved  ivory.  Upon  his  head  was  the  crown  of 


PARTHENIA.  413 

thorns,  and  the  expression  was  that  of  a  divine 
compassion,  an  immeasurable  pity. 

Phorion  and  Olympia  looked  at  each  other.  They 
were  contrasting  the  bare,  the  uninhabitable  aspect 
of  this  low  cell  with  the  lofty,  luxurious  home  of  the 
recluse  in  Athens.  And  she  to  whom  beauty  had 
been  a  religion  and  luxury,  a  necessity,  stood  there 
bare  of  all  except  her  beautiful  self,  and  the  image 
of  Him  whom  she  had  left  all  to  follow. 

Phorion  and  Olympia  encircled  her  in  their  arms, 
and  burst  into  tears. 

She  drew  herself  quietly  from  them.  "  Why  do 
you  weep,"  she  said,  "  and  break  my  heart  ?  " 

"  How,  dearest  Parthenia,  can  you,  who  have  so 
loved  God's  beautiful  gifts,  thus  strip  yourself  of 
all  ? " 

"  Here  are  no  flowers,  no  perfume,  no  ornament, 
no  luxury,'7  said  Olympia.  "  Do  you  not  give 
back  upon  the  altar  what  God  has  scattered  so 
profusely  ?  " 

"  All  are  his,"  said  Parthenia.  "  He  asks  only 
the  heart,  which  it  is  so  hard  to  give." 

"  Expiation,  atonement,"  said  Phorion,  "  are  the 
cry  of  the  Church,  and  the  spirit  of  the  age ;  but 
you,  fair  Parthenia,  are  free  from  sins,  you  have 
no  burdened  conscience  to  expiate." 

"  O  come  away  with  us,"  cried  Olympia.      "  Rc- 

35  * 


414  PARTHENIA. 

turn  to  Antioch.  There  is  no  longer  any  persecu 
tion  of  the  Galileans.  Jovian  is  the  Christians' 
Emperor." 

"  It  is  not  too  late,"  said  Phorion.  "  Beloved 
Parthenia,  you  have  not  yet  taken  the  vow  which 
will  separate  you  from  all  you  have  loved." 

"Return!"  continued  Olympia ;  "Julian,  the 
impious,  the  persecutor  of  the  Christians,  is  no 
more.  The  Gods  he  so  honored  have  taken  him 
to  themselves." 

"  Fair  Parthenia,"  Phorion  continued,  "  are  you 
sure  that  this  life  of  seclusion  and  ascetic  privation 
is  that  to  which  your  youth  and  your  cultured 
tastes  will  reconcile  you  ?  The  death  of  Julian  has 
left  the  Church  triumphant.  Christianity  has  ob 
tained  an  easy  victory.  Life  may  now  be  serious 
and  secure,  with  the  Christian  faith  openly  pro 
fessed." 

At  the  mention  of  Julian,  Parthenia's  cheek 
became  more  pale.  His  failure  and  his  death  had 
revealed  to  her  the  strength  of  the  tie  which  drew 
her,  and  the  riches  of  the  soul  which  made  that 
attraction  so  strong.  But  she  did  not  go  to  the 
cloister  to  cherish  a  passion  under  the  delusion  of 
preserving  a  memory.  "  Pardon  me,"  she  said, 
"your  words  are  kind,  but  they  do  not  penetrate 
beyond  the  portal  of  the  ear.  The  dreams  which 


PARTHENIA.  415 

filled  my  life  with  illusions  are  past ;  my  father  is 
estranged  from  me ;  my  fortune,  in  a  time  of  famine, 
I  turned  into  bread  for  the  poor ;  this  asylum  pre 
sents  to  me  all  that  I  long  for  and  need,  —  tranquil 
lity,  forgetfulness." 

Phorion  was  in  earnest.  "  I  cannot  accept  your 
reasons,"  he  began. 

"  Ah  !  but  if  here  alone  I  can  live  for  God,  and 
for  Him  to  whom  I  would  give  my  heart,"  and  she 
glanced  towards  the  statue  of  Christ. 

"  It  is  not  a  change  of  place  which  will  draw  us 
near  to  God,"  said  Phorion.  "Wherever  we  are, 
God  will  come  to  us,  if  our  heart  is  an  asylum  wor 
thy  to  receive  him." 

She  looked  at  Phorion  with  the  smile  of  former 
days.  "  In  leaving  the  dry  husks  of  logic  for  the 
sweet  wine  of  the  Gospels,  and  Plato  for  Christ,  I 
fain  would  meet  with  Phorion's  sympathy." 

"  It  is  not  that  you  have  exchanged  Philosophy 
for  Christianity  that  I  would  draw  you  from  the 
life  of  the  cloister,  but  that  you  arc  a  woman  in  the 
sweet  prime  of  youth,  and  you  should  find  your 
strength  in  your  weakness,  and  give  yourself  to 
another." 

Parthenia  colored,  first  in  anger ;  the  flush  faded, 
and  a  tear  was  on  her  eyelid. 

"  Fair  Parthenia,  shall  your  youth  have  no  flower, 


416  PAETHENIA. 

your  summer  no  fruit  ?  Listen  to  me !  Love  is 
the  gift  God  has  left  the  world,  to  keep  it  from  de 
spair.  The  heaped-up  treasures  of  the  world  are  not 
worthy  to  purchase  an  instant  of  its  joy.  Queens 
cannot  exact  it,  but  it  blesses  the  humblest  lot." 

"Phorion,  forbear !  " 

"  I  would  that  I  could  paint  for  thee  the  joys  of 
wedded  love ;  that  daily  fresh  miracle  where  two 
souls  become  one." 

Parthenia  trembled,  she  merely  said  again,  "  For 
bear!" 

"  The  self-immolating  aspect  of  this  convent  chills 
me  like  a  sunless  day  of  winter.  Parthenia,  return 
with  us."  He  had  taken  her  hand,  and  drew  her 
to  the  door  of  the  cell. 

"  No,  Phorion !  my  youth  is  over.  Love,  the 
short  joy  of  my  youth,  can  never  be  rekindled. 
My  choice  is  fixed,  my  resolution  immovable.  This 
is  my  home !  "  Turning  to  Olympia,  she  took  her 
hand  tenderly  in  hers.  "  Let  us  not  waste  these 
precious  moments  in  unavailing  regrets  !  Tell  me 
of  those  I  have  left  in  the  world,  —  Theodoras  ?  " 

"  Theodoras  is  scarcely  of  the  world.  He  has 
gone  to  add  one  more  to  the  army  of  the  monks  of 
the  Thebaid.  He  still  declares  to  priest  and  bishop, 
that  an  angel  in  white  raiment  stood  by  him  in  his 
torture,  sustained  him  when  fainting,  and  presented 


PARTHENIA.  417 

cordials  to  his  lips.  Ho  felt  no  pain :  the  perfume 
from  the  angel's  wings  gave  him  life  and  strength." 

Parthenia  smiled.  "  This  perhaps  will  procure 
him  in  later  days  canonization  among  the  martyrs," 
—  a  prophecy  which  the  records  of  the  Church  have 
confirmed. 

"  Cartophilus  ?  Have  you  no  record  of  the  noble 
Jew  ? " 

"  Report  has  surely  reached  you  of  the  disastrous 
issue  of  the  expedition  led  by  Cartophilus,  and  by 
the  order  of  Julian,  to  rebuild  the  temple  on  Mount 
Zion.  The  miracles  they  report  have  divided  the 
believing,  and  converted  the  -unbelieving.  They 
record  that  rocks  were  rent  and  caverns  opened ; 
that  the  first  spade  thrust  into  the  sacred  spot  was 
followed  by  streams  of  liquid  fire ;  that  invisible 
agents  with  their  heavy  blows  struck  back  the 
frightened  workmen ;  that  balls  of  lurid  fire  and 
flashes  of  intense  brightness  blinded  the  architects 
who  would  survey  the  ground ;  that  an  earthquake 
shook  the  remnant  of  the  old  wall,  and  opened  the 
earth  to  swallow  up  those  who  ventured  near.  Af 
frighted  and  appalled,  believing  in  the  Jehovah  of 
the  Hebrews,  the  workmen  fled,  and  brought  the 
report  to  Antioch  and  to  Rome." 

"  And  the  noble  Jew,  Cartophilus,  does  he  yet  re 
tain  his  scepticism,  after  all  these  miracles  ?  " 


418  PAETHENIA. 

"  Cartopliilus  has  ever  been  almost  a  Christian. 
By  the  aid  of  Moses,  Plato,  and  Christ,  he  has 
thought  out  for  himself  a  religion  which  enjoins  the 
utmost  purity  of  conscience.  His  life  is  pure : 
his  immense  wealth  is  devoted  to  noble  purposes. 
The  wonderful  experiences  of  his  career  involve  his 
early  history  in  mystery,  with  hints  of  appalling 
incidents ;  his  strange  youthful  enterprises,  united 
with  marks  of  extreme  age,  the  immense  and  vari 
ous  information  he  has  made  his  own,  the  beauty 
of  his  countenance,  give  him  almost  irresistible  in 
fluence  over  men,  and  women  also." 

"  How  often,"  said  Parthenia,  "  does  he  hint  of 
events  and  incidents  that  he  has  witnessed,  which 
would  make  him  greatly  older  than  his  apparent 
ago !  " 

"  I  have  heard  also  of  a  strangely  beautiful,  but 
at  her  death  very  aged  person,  to  whom  he  was  be 
trothed  in  youth,  who  had  kept  her  faith,  and  re 
mained  constant  to  him  after  very  painful  events 
which  separated  them  for  ever.  This  history  of  his 
early  love  belongs  to  the  legend  which  makes  him 
the  contemporary  of  Jesus.  He  is  said  to  be  the 
unhappy  Jew  who,  when  Christ  was  bearing  his 
cross  painfully  up  the  steep  path  of  Calvary,  cried 
out  to  him,  in  jeering  tones,  '  Go  faster,  Jesus. 
Why  dost  thou  linger  ?  Go  faster ! '  Jesus  turned 


PAETHENIA.  419 

to  him  without  anger,  and  said,  '  I  indeed  ain  go 
ing,  but  thou — thou  shalt  tarry  till  I  come.' 

"  It  is  said  also,"  continued  Phorion,  "  that  he  has 
gone  through  several  transformations ;  that  at  the 
close  of  every  century  the  material  part  suffers  a 
change,  either  by  fire,  water,  or  petrifaction,  and 
that  the  immortal  soul  enters  a  new  and  youthful 
body,  retaining  all  its  faculties,  its  memory,  and 
its  accumulated  knowledge." 

"  0  misery  to  be  cursed  with  such  a  life !  "  said 
Parthenia. 

In  conversation  and  in  retrospection  the  day  wore 
on,  and  after  many  hours,  as  the  friends  looked 
towards  the  west,  they  saw  that  the  sun  was  declin 
ing;  the  clouds,  purple  and  gold,  were  gathering 
around  to  form  his  setting  canopy.  With  sorrow 
they  felt  that  they  must  part.  Once  more  they  took 
each  a  hand  of  the  beautiful  woman,  and  again  ear 
nestly  entreated  her  to  follow  them  to  Antioch,  and 
to  bless  their  own  home  by  her  presence. 

Reluctantly,  painfully,  she  drew  her  hands  from 
them,  and,  glancing  at  the  image  of  Christ,  said, 
"Cease,  my  friends,  cease  to  break — do  not  try  to 
divide  —  my  heart.  Let  the  offering  be  pure  and 
whole,  and  of  every  faculty  of  my  being,  to  Him  of 
whom  I  have  learnt  the  worthlessness  of  this  life  in 
comparison  with  the  life  of  the  future  !  " 


420  PARTHENIA. 

Are  not  both  lives  of  nearly  equal  value,  and 
were  not  those  mistaken  who  sought  in  retreats  of 
ascetic  solitude,  of  unloving  isolation,  the  only  prep 
aration  for  the  life  of  love  and  joy  in  the  future  ? 
Yet  these  retreats  had  their  source  in  the  deep  heart 
of  humanity ;  in  the  need  the  repentant  soul  felt  for 
self-abnegation  and  self-sacrifice.  Later  in  the  his 
tory  of  the  Church,  women  whom  love  or  sorrow 
had  driven  like  the  wounded  doe  from  their  fellows, 
instead  of  seeking  a  cloistered  solitude,  bound  them 
selves  by  religious  obligation  to  a  life  of  celibacy 
indeed,  but  to  active  self-devotion  to  the  service  of 
others.  Have  we  improved  upon  either  system  ? 
Are  woman's  noblest  instincts  and  holiest  affections 
better  trained  in  the  pursuit  of  the  material  inter 
ests  of  life,  or  even  in  the  ardent,  but  narrow,  love 
of  the  circle  bounded  by  home  and  children  ? 

But  it  was  time  to  part  with  Parthenia  at  the 
gate  of  her  convent.  Silently  they  wrung  the  hands 
held  out  to  them.  Then,  with  that  radiant  smile 
sometimes  seen  upon  the  face  of  the  dying,  she 
pointed  to  the  glowing  west.  "  I  KNOW,"  she  said, 
"  that  we  shall  meet  each  other  again  in  those  man 
sions  Christ  has  prepared  for  all  those  who  believe 
in  him!" 

THE    END. 


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